Klarinet Archive - Posting 000857.txt from 1999/03

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Emphysema
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 13:00:17 -0500

The link between playing wind instruments and the development of
emphysema is strongest among the brass players, although it has been
noted in any instrument that requires generation of "significant"
postive intrathoracic pressure over long periods of time. Most of
the data is confounded by the prevalence of smoking (i.e. too few
of the musicians studied did NOT smoke) so that the relative risk of
developing emphysema from the different instruments themselves could
not be determined in any statistically meaninful way (in the last few
years, they've started using some different assumptions in medical
statistics which may have allowed someone to extrapolate an answer -
not every scientist buys those assumptions, but they can provide some
additional information). It's been awhile since I checked out this
literature so I will run a medline search this afternoon and see what
I come up with.

> Right now I am fighting a bad case of bronchitis. After a couple weeks of
> antibiotics, the doctor finally x-rayed my lungs. He found them to be
> relatively clear, but did notice an area where I could have the beginnings
> of emphysema. He asked me if I smoked, and I said that I didn't. (I have
> never smoked, but I have worked in environments where there was more
> cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke than air.) I then told the doctor that I
> play clarinet, and he immediately responded: "Say nor more, I learn
> something new every day." The reason why I am bringing this to the
> attention of the list is because of what I found in a medical book about
> emphysema. Among other things, the book attributed emphysema to smoking,
> exposure to air pollution, and PLAYING A WIND INSTRUMENT. I assume that
> playing a wind instrument can have something to do with overinflating the
> alveoli in the lungs, but is this bad in itself? Can a person play a wind
> instrument and not damage the alveoli? Can a person overinflate the alveoli
> without developing emphysema? I wonder how many members of the list who
> have never smoked have had the same symptoms on their x-rays. Heredity is
> also a possibility in acquiring emphysema, but I think that it is rare.
> Anyhow, if this is not too far from the subject of clarinet playing, I
> would like to hear from members of the list. TIA.
>
> JON
>
>
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>
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
1750 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 641o6-1453
email: dikarius@-----.EDU

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