A MODEL TO PREDICT CARBOXYHEMOGLOBIN AND PULMONARY PARAMETERS AFTER EXPOSURE TO O-2, CO2, AND CO

A computer-based physiological model of respiratory gas ex change, whi ch considered variation in inhaled oxygen and carbon dioxide, was modi fied to include the effects of inhaled car bon monoxide. Output from t he modified model consists of 60 variables, including blood, alveolar and tissue gases, ventilatory function and carboxyhemoglobin. Extensiv e testing demonstrated that this model produced accurate results for k nown problems and physiologically plausible results for situations in which the results were not empirically known. Estimates of the effects of simultaneous continuously varying exposure to carbon monoxide, oxy gen and carbon dioxide cannot be practically obtained with other extan t methods. The modified model receives input from two computer files c ontaining environmental and subject physiological variables, These fil es allow a continuous dynamic multi gas exposure simulation or actual exposure data profiles. Up to four outputs can be selected for plottin g or stored in ct file for later analysis.