The Total Lung Volume and its Subdivisions: III.--Correlation with other Anthropometric Data

Numerous attempts have been made to correlate the vital capacity of normal subjects with other physical measurements. As long ago as 1846, Hutchinson examined its relationship with age, height, weight, and chest circumference in males. Though he found no uniform correlation between vital capacity and bodyweight and no correlation whatever with chest circumference, he stated that the vital capacity increased by eight cu. in. for every inch of height from five to six feet, and decreased by about one cu. in. per year after the age of thirty-five. Peabody and Wentworth (1917) examined 96 males and 44 females and found that, if each sex was divided into three groups according to height, 84 per cent. of the males and 68 per cent. of the females had vital capacities within 10 per cent. of the mean for their group. They also pointed out that nearly all of the subjects whose vital capacity fell outside this range had very large vital capacities, apparently as a result of athletic habit.