Normal spirometry in healthy natives of Bhutan.

We performed spirometry on 333 healthy Bhutanese men and women at Thimpu. Prediction equations were derived using age and height as regression coefficients. Age had a significant negative correlation while both height and weight had positive linear correlation with spirometric indices. The relationship of weight with FVC was explained largely on the basis of the "muscularity" effect of weight. Bhutanese have lower ventilatory parameters than the Europeans and the North Indians. The difference is likely to be ethnic in origin.