Insignificant Difference of Mucociliary Clearance in Middle-Aged and Elderly Patients

Abstract

: Aging has always been assumed to have negative effect on mucociliary clearance, but studies are in fact limited. Nasal mucociliary clearance (NMC) is a mirror image of bronchial clearance. This study aims to evaluate the difference of NMC, measured by saccharin test, in middle-aged (40-59 years) and elderly (>60 years) patients which are the most common age groups in our clinical settings. It is a cross-sectional study involving middle-aged (n=18) and elderly (n=12) patients. Smokers and patients having respiratory symptoms were excluded. Data of age, sex, history of diabetes, malignancy, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/FVC ratio, and saccharin transit time were taken. There is no significant difference in baseline characteristics, except FVC. Saccharin transit time (STT) was not statistically different between middle-aged and elderly patients (11.9+5.8 vs 12.8+6.3 mins, p=0.696). A patient with Bechet’s disease had abnormally prolonged STT (26.13 mins). With this patient excluded, history of malignancy was the only factor associated with STT (p=0.026) after linear regression. In fact, only subjects with history of chemotherapy had prolonged STT. The findings suggest that there are other factors to be aware of while evaluating mucociliary clearance, such as history of chemotherapy and autoimmune disease.