Normal lung weights in Jamaicans.

In a retrospective postmortem study of 1,019 adult Jamaicans of African extraction, 350 (17.2 per cent) of the 2,038 lungs were classified as normal. The weights of these lungs were compared with weights of lungs in abnormal categories and considerable overlap was found. It was concluded, however, that lungs that were normal to inspection and palpation but that weighed less than the mean could be included in studies requiring normal lungs. In 70 men and 81 women, both lungs were normal. Regressions of the normal total lung weights were calculated with age, height, weight, and surface area. These factors accounted for only 11 per cent of the variation in total lung weights in men and 14 per cent in women. Analysis of male and female lung weights showed that for any given height and weight there was no significant difference between the sexes. No adequate data were available to compare races, but it was concluded that lung weight was more closely related to stature than to sex or, probably, to race.