Physiological changes in pulmonary development related to passive smoking and its interaction with active smoking.

The growth of pulmonary function between ages 5.5 and 25 years was determined in 1502 observations on 362 subjects from a representative population study of non-Mexican American whites in Tucson. There was an average of 8.8 years of follow-up, with a maximum of 12. The model developed was robust for follow-up of 3-7 observations (3 + years). Respiratory illnesses and smoking had the biggest negative impact on growth of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), Vmax 50%/forced vital capacity (FVC) parental smoking and airway obstructive disease (AOD) were important also. Flow measures showed present and more persistent effects of disease and smoking than did FEV1.