According to the latest study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the relationship between height and lung function has changed over a period of time and thus the height-dependent values of FEV1 and FVC – the parameters to assess disease severity–are in opposition to predicted values in case of respiratory diseases.  The mean FEV1 and FVC increased over time among European adults born from 1884 to 1996. The researchers, James P. Allinson and colleagues at the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College London, highlighted the importance of the study in that these changes seem to have resulted in the easier fulfillment of COPD diagnostic criteria and the progressive underestimation of disease severity.