[Age- and sex-related aspects of changes in external respiratory functions in the population of high-altitude Mongolia].

External respiratory function was explored in 191 aborigenes living in high mountains (2300 m above the sea level) and in 233 aborigenes living in low mountains (800 m above the sea level). It was established that during long-term high-altitude adaptation, there was a substantial increase in the static and dynamic lung volumes with an appropriate reduction in the residual lung volume. Such adaptation reactions made oxygen consumption remain at the subnormal level which was 40-50 ml/min less in the population living in high mountains as compared with that living in low mountains. It was revealed that in mountaineers, the age-associated involution of the majority of the parameters of external respiration occurred 10 years later on the average than in the population living in low mountains. The compensatory abilities of the external respiratory apparatus were found to be higher in women than in men and to be preserved for a longer time with physiological aging.