[Discriminating power of multivariate parameters of respiration in epidemiological studies (author's transl)].

Applying a broad scale of lung function tests in epidemiological surveys (929 metal workers of a big industrial shop, 211 of them with signs of chronic obstructive lung disease, COLD, and 1,266 pupils of 2 towns with different dust exposition) we found similar multivariate discriminant functions in all age groups between 7 and 79 years of age to differentiate between COLD-population and normal population. Residual volume in % of total capacity (RV/TC) seems to be the most relevant central parameter in all age groups, which should be combined with one of the inhomogeneity parameters of single breath or multi breath distribution tests ( delta F/ delta V or breath of inhomogeneity IHB) in juveniles between 7 to 16 years of age and with closing volume (CV/VC) in adults between 20 to 79 years of age. Conventional ventilation parameters and the arterial oxygen tension don't contribute additional information to multivariate analysis, which isn't already summarized by the parameters RV/TC.