Sex‐related differences in pulmonary vascular volume distribution

Abstract

Abstract 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 10 mm2 (14 ± 8 vs. 27 ± 9 mL), vessel volume 5–10 mm2 (35 ± 11 vs. 55 ± 10 mL), and vessel volume 10 mm2 (11 ± 4 vs. 16 ± 4%, p < 0.001) and 5–10 mm2 (30 ± 6 vs. 34 ± 5%, p = 0.001) remained lower in females but vessel volume <5 mm2 relative to total volume was 18% higher (59 ± 8 vs. 50 ± 7%, p < 0.001). Among healthy older adults, pulmonary vessel volume is distributed into smaller vessels in females versus males.

Keywords

• aging
• multislice computed tomography
• pulmonary arterial hypertension
• pulmonary circulation
• sex characteristics