ORIGINAL ARTICLE Reduced Pulmonary Function in Wind Instrument Players Omer Deniz, a Sema Savci, b Ergun Tozkoparan, a Deniz Inal Ince, b Muharrem Ucar, c and Faruk Ciftci d a Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey b School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey c Department of Public Health, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey d Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Haydarpasa Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey Received for publication June 2, 2005; accepted September 21, 2005 (ARCMED-D-05-00212). Background. Wind instrument playing requires a strenuous respiratory activity. Previous studies investigating effect of wind instrument playing on pulmonary function are equivocal. Methods. In the present study, 34 male, non-smoker wind players in a military band were compared with 44 healthy non-smoker males by pulmonary function testing. Results. All spirometric values including forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow rate, forced expiratory flow in 25, 50, 75% of FVC, and during the middle half of the FVC were found significantly diminished in wind players. The class of wind instrument, brass or wood, showed no significant differences. FVC was significantly and negatively correlated with duration of practice. Conclusions. It was concluded that pulmonary function in wind players might be dimin- ished probably due to development of asthma or constant barotrauma during their playing. This fact should be considered in clinical evaluation of wind instrument players. Ó 2006 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Inc. Key Words: Pulmonary function, Wind instrument players. Introduction Wind instrument playing is probably the most strenuous ac- tivity of the respiratory system and it requires regular prac- tice for especially superior performance of professional musicians. The results of the studies in the literature inves- tigating the effect of playing a wind instrument on pulmo- nary function are few in number and controversial. Some authors suggested that wind players might have better pul- monary function due to continuous ventilatory muscle training while others found no difference and a few re- ported diminished lung function in wind players (1–4). In addition, equivocalness exists whether wind instrument playing predisposes the exacerbation of respiratory diseases including bronchial asthma and laryngeal, pharyngeal and oral anatomic changes as a result of constant barotrauma or wind instrument performance have the potential of long-term therapeutic effect on obstructive lung diseases such as asthma (5–7). We designed this study to better investigate the effect of wind instrument playing on pulmonary function testing. Materials and Methods Subjects Thirty four non-commissioned officers who play a wind in- strument in the Turkish Naval Band voluntarily participated in the study. All of the participants were non-smoking males with a mean age of 24.18 6 3.43 (range: 20–35) years. The mean duration of practice was 8.94 6 2.95 years in the same position. Sixteen of the band members were wood wind instrument players (3 oboists, 3 clarinetists, 3 bassoon players, 2 alto saxophonists, 2 tenor saxophonists, 2 flutists, and 1 baritone saxophonist) and 18 were brass in- strument players (4 trumpeters, 4 bass trombonists, 4 tenor Address reprint requests to: Ergun Tozkoparan, GATAGogus Hastali- klari AD, 06018 Etlik, Ankara, Turkey; E-mail: etozkoparan@gata.edu.tr or dretozkoparan@yahoo.com 0188-4409/06 $–see front matter. Copyright Ó 2006 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Inc. doi: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2005.09.015 Archives of Medical Research 37 (2006) 506–510