At spirometry, women tended to report more small airway impairment with lower forced expiratory flow at 25–75% (FEF 25–75 %) and maximal expiratory flow at 25% (MEF 25 %), but the differences did not reach statistical significance compared to men ( p = 0.075 for MEF 25 % and p = 0.08 for FEF 25–75 %).
2
0.0750
0.0750
The sentences
Females showed a trend toward lower small airway indices, including maximal expiratory flow at 25 (MEF 25 %) and forced expiratory flow at 25–75% (FEF 25–75 %), though this was not statistically significant, while the residual volume-to-total lung capacity (RV/TLC) ratio was significantly higher in women.