Lung elasticity and age
The elastic properties of lung and
thorax change during growth and aging. In adults the lung
becomes gradually more flaccid: the pressure required to inflate
the lung to the same volume diminishes. Also the relaxed lung
volume, i.e. the
volume when transpulmonary pressure is nil, increases. It
is to be expected that residual volume will comprise a larger
part of the total lung capacity, and that hence the vital
capacity declines.
Conclusion
- From adolescence on the lung becomes more flaccid.
- As the lung becomes less elastic its resting volume (the volume at which the pressure difference across the lung is nil) increases.