LUNG MUCOCILIARY CLEARANCE

The aim of this study was to establish reference values for mucociliar y clearance and mucociliary clearance reserve capacity as determined b y beta (2)-adrenergic agonist-induced increase in mucociliary clearanc e. We studied 62 healthy females (n=33) and males (n=29). Their ages r anged evenly between 18 and 84 years. Fifty-three of the subjects were life-long non-smokers, while nine were ex-smokers. Multiple linear re gression analyses showed that mucociliary clearance was significantly faster when the radioaerosol was deposited in the central airways than when it was deposited in the peripheral airways, and faster in life-l ong non-smokers than in ex-smokers. There was no influence of age, and no convincing association with sex. The variation was less within tha n between subjects. Mean mucociliary clearance reserve capacity was 21 .3% (SD: 10.0%, P<0.0001). The beta (2) agonist-induced increase in lu ng mucociliary clearance was significantly larger (P<0.05) than the st imulation which has previously been reported in patients with asthma, bronchiectasis or cystic fibrosis. The signal-to-noise ratio of the mu cociliary clearance reserve capacity in relation to measurement of bas eline mucociliary clearance indicates that measurement of mucociliary clearance reserve capacity may be a more efficient means of distinguis hing between ''normal'' and ''abnormal'' mucociliary clearance than si ngle measurement of baseline mucociliary clearance.