Pages 233-237 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
School of Physical and Health Education, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Source
Pages 233-237 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
Respiratory health, smoking habits, forced vital capacity, one-second forced expiratory volume, and maximal mid-expiratory flow rate have been examined in all willing Inuit aged 9-79 years living in the Arctic community of Igloolik, NWT, Canada (69 degrees N, 81 degrees W) in 1969/70 (1970), 1979/80 (1980), and 1989/90 (1990). The sample comprises about 70% of the children and more than 50% of the adults; in the more recent survey, 219 males and 160 females. Almost all of the adults and many of the children smoke, the current average consumption in those over 17 years of age being 13 plus/minus 7 cigarettes/day in the men and 11 plus/minus 7 cigarettes/day in the women. About a third of the community have radiographically visible chest disease, but with a few exceptions this has had only a minor effect upon pulmonary function. During adolescence, long volumes increase as a logarithmic function of stature; statistically fitted curves predict only minor inter-survey differences for a given height. In adults, multiple regressions on age and height show an increase of cross-sectional aging coefficients from 1970 to 1990, with parallel trends in longitudinal data. Radiographic chest disease and domestic air pollution do not seem the sole cause of the secular trend to accelerated aging. Other possible factors include greater pack-years of cigarette exposure, nonspecific respiratory disease, increased inspiration of cold air, altered chest mechanics due to operation of high-speed snowmobiles, and more general consequences of the secular trend to a loss of physical fitness.