Vital capacity

[1][2] A person's vital capacity can be measured by a wet or regular spirometer.

In combination with other physiological measurements, the vital capacity can help make a diagnosis of underlying lung disease.

Furthermore, the vital capacity is used to determine the severity of respiratory muscle involvement in neuromuscular disease, and can guide treatment decisions in Guillain–Barré syndrome and myasthenic crisis.

[citation needed] A normal adult has a vital capacity between 3 and 5 litres.

[3] A human's vital capacity depends on age, sex, height, mass, and possibly ethnicity.

[4] However, the dependence on ethnicity is poorly understood or defined, as it was first established by studying black slaves in the 19th century[5] and may be the result of conflation with environmental factors.

Several studies have been made to measure and predict vital capacity: