Effects of Added Resistance to Breathing in Obstructed Lung Disease

摘要

Regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandate that workers exposed to hazardous substances be provided with respiratory protective devices when engineering and administrative controls cannot adequately protect the worker. These regulations also provide that the workers who are unable to wear these devices for reasons of health be exempted from doing so. Although there is considerable experimental evidence in the literature concerning the effects of added resistance and deadspace on the breathing of normal individuals, there are few studies which address these effects in subjects with obstructive lung disease. Since most working populations include subjects with mild to moderate airways obstruction (due either to occupational or non-occupational causes) it is important to know if these individuals can safely tolerate respiratory protective devices. In order to address this problem, the authors examined the response to exercise with and without added resistance to breathing of subjects with obstructive lung disease and compared those responses to a group of normals. The results are discussed in this report and recommendations for further study are made.