Sex‐related differences in pulmonary vascular volume distribution

• Published in: Pulmonary circulation 2024-07, Vol.14 (3), p.e12436-n/a
• Main Authors: Wright, Stephen P., Kirby, Miranda, Singh, Gaurav V., Tan, Wan C., Bourbeau, Jean, Eves, Neil D., Samet, Jonathon, Puhan, Milo, Hamid, Qutayba, Baglole, Carolyn, Mancino, Palmina, Li, Pei‐Zhi, Song, Zhi, Jensen, Dennis, Smith, Benjamin Mcdonald, Fortier, Yvan, Dligui, Mina, Chapman, Kenneth, Duke, Jane, Gershon, Andrea S., To, Teresa, Fitzgerald, J. Mark, Sadatsafavi, Mohsen, Lo, Christine, Cheng, Sarah, Un, Elena, Cheng, Michael, Fung, Cynthia, Haynes, Nancy, Zheng, Liyun, Zou, Ling Xiang, Comeau, Joe, Leipsic, Jonathon, Hague, Cameron, Walker, Brandie L., Dumonceaux, Curtis, Hernandez, Paul, Fulton, Scott, Aaron, Shawn, Vandemheen, Kathy, O'Donnell, Denis, McNeil, Matthew, Whelan, Kate, Maltais, Francois, Brouillard, Cynthia, Marciniuk, Darcy, Clemens, Ron, Baran, Janet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: aging; Females; Lungs; multislice computed tomography; pulmonary arterial hypertension; pulmonary circulation; sex characteristics; Tomography
• ISSN: 2045-8940; 2045-8932; 2045-8940
• DOI: 10.1002/pul2.12436

Pulmonary arterial hypertension affects females more frequently than males, and there are known sex‐related differences in the lungs. However, normal sex‐related differences in pulmonary vascular structure remain incompletely described. We aimed to contrast computed tomography‐derived pulmonary vascular volume and its distribution within the lungs of healthy adult females and males. From the CanCOLD Study, we retrospectively identified healthy never‐smokers. We analyzed full‐inspiration computed tomography images, using vessel and airway segmentation to generate pulmonary vessel volume, vessel counts, and airway counts. Vessels were classified by cross‐sectional area >10, 5–10, and