Extract
I read with great interest the recent official European Respiratory Society technical standard entitled “Global Lung Function Initiative reference values for static lung volumes in individuals of European ancestry” [1]. The manuscript is very interesting, and certainly it will mark the “history” of pulmonary function reference equations [2]. In the aforementioned study, 7190 observations from 17 centres were submitted and reference equations were derived for individuals aged 5 to 80 years [1]. The centres were based in 11 countries localised in four continents (Europe, Ocean, America and Africa). Since the vast majority (97.2%) of data came from individuals having a “European ancestry”, this expression was used to “describe” the included individuals [1].
Abstract
The statement that Tunisians have a 100% “European ancestry” is a source of ethnic and historical confusion https://bit.ly/3v3AY5T
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: H. Ben Saad reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Saiph, Teriak, Hikma, Chiesi and Opalia Recordati; H. Ben Saad is a member of the GLI Network and submitted Tunisian plethysmographic data (n=615) to the GLI report discussed, but was not involved in the preparation of the manuscript.
- Received March 14, 2021.
- Accepted April 11, 2021.
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