Background: Many literature reports have indicated the fact that the percentage of active smokers among the homeless is high, often several times higher than that of the general population. The homeless are known to have worse spirometric parameters than the general population.
Objectives: The question of what the principal and exclusive cause of airway obstruction among the homeless is remains unanswered. Verification of the above-mentioned hypothesis is possible by comparing the spirometric parameters in homeless people with those in the general population, based on the data related to subgroups with similar tobacco smoke exposure, which are homogenous in terms of sex, race and age.
Material and methods: The spirometric parameters in 58 homeless male smokers were compared with those in 55 male smokers living normal lives. Neither group differed in age, duration of smoking or the number of pack-years. All of the subjects were Caucasian.
Results: The mean values of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV1/ FVC, both corrected and expressed as absolute figures, were lower amongst the smoking homeless men than amongst men living normal lives. In 27.59% of the homeless subjests not receiving treatment for lung diseases, airway obstruction was identified.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that smoking is not the only cause of the worse spirometric parameters found among the homeless.
Keywords: homeless; smoking; spirometry.