Emphysema Seen on CT Worse in Males

[Blossom/Jackie W.]

Emphysema seen on CT scans is worse in male COPD patients


Source: Reuters
Author: Anthony J. Brown, MD
Date: Tue, 4 September 2007

CT-visualized emphysema is more advanced in men with COPD than in women, and this holds true for all stages of COPD severity, according to a report in the August issue of Chest.

Although a number of studies have looked at gender differences in COPD, "our study is the first to use quantitative CT analysis to demonstrate that men have more extensive emphysema than women across the spectrum of COPD severity," lead author Dr. Mark T. Dransfield, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Reuters Health.

The findings stem from a study of 396 current and former smokers who underwent CT evaluation as part of the National Lung Screening Trial. The subjects included 246 men and 150 women.

At all stages of COPD, more regional and total CT emphysema was noted in men compared with women. For instance, with stage 1 disease, the percentage of low attenuation areas, an indicator of CT emphysema, was 7.0 per cent in men and 3.7 per cent in women (p = 0.015). At stage 3 or 4, the corresponding figures were 15.8 and 8.7 per cent (p = 0.024).

On multivariate analysis, gender and the FEV1/FVC ratio were the only significant predictors of the percentage of low attenuation areas, the report indicates.

"Physicians should be aware that the presentation and natural history of COPD differs between genders," Dr. Dransfield noted. "The results of this study provide a possible pathophysiologic basis for this, but the implications for the treatment of COPD are as yet unclear."

He added that further research is needed to determine how gender impacts the effectiveness of current and new therapies for COPD.

[LindaNY]

Interesting. I wonder if it may have something to do with the phycical size difference of the lungs in males and females.

[larrynz]

Two reasons I know of.
Female lungs are smaller to start with, this is related to child bearing, plus female lungs start off as being more rigid than a male. As I understand it a man with 30% of predicted will cope much better than a woman with the same 30%. This is based on what I have read.

[Blossom/Jackie W.]

I've read that too Larry re: 30% coping vs 30% coping (as an example) BUT I've never heard of this.... "
Female lungs are smaller to start with, this is related to child bearing"