The Bohr equation is used to quantify the ratio of physiological dead space to the total tidal volume, and gives an indication of the extent of wasted ventilation.
The original formulation by Bohr,[1] required measurement of the alveolar partial pressure PA.
is the tidal volume; Its derivation is based on the fact that only the ventilated gases involved in gas exchange (
Defining Fe as the fraction of CO2 in the average expired breath, FA as the fraction of CO2 in the perfused alveolar volume, and Fd as the CO2 makeup of the unperfused (and thus 'dead') region of the lung; VT x Fe = ( Vd x Fd ) + (VA x FA ).
If we suppose that Fd = 0 (since carbon dioxide's concentration in air is normally negligible), then we can say that:[5] The only source of CO2 is the alveolar space where gas exchange with blood takes place.
Thus the alveolar fractional component of CO2, FA, will always be higher than the average CO2 content of the expired air because of a non-zero dead space volume Vd, thus the above equation will always yield a positive number.
Where Ptot is the total pressure, we obtain: Therefore: A common step is to then presume that the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the end-tidal exhaled air is in equilibrium with that gas' tension in the blood that leaves the alveolar capillaries of the lung.