CNN.com - Study: Scuba diving doesn't appear to hurt lung function - Jul 17, 2006
CNN.com - Study: Scuba diving doesn't appear to hurt lung function - Jul 17, 2006:
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Contrary to some reports, scuba divers do not appear to have an accelerated decline in lung function, according to researchers at the German Naval Institute.
"Obstructive changes in lung function have been reported with cumulative scuba diving exposure," Dr. Kay Tetzlaff, of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and colleagues write in the medical journal Chest.
To look into this, the researchers studied in 468 military scuba divers and a comparison 'control' group of 122 military submariners, all of them men. Specifically, the team tracked the participants' decline over time in lung performance -- measured as the maximum volume of air expired in one second (called the FEV1).
Tetzlaff's group conducted the tests in all of the subjects on at least three occasions over a period of at least 1 year. The average follow-up was five years.