Final answer:
An increased respiratory rate is not a typical change seen in the aging respiratory system; instead, it is the effort of breathing that tends to increase. Changes like decreased lung elasticity and capacity, and decreased cough reflex, are more commonly seen with aging, affecting the lung's compliance and airway resistance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question poses a scenario about the respiratory system with aging and asks which one of the listed changes is not commonly associated with that process. Upon reviewing the effects of aging on the respiratory system, we can establish that typically, there is a decreased lung elasticity and decreased lung capacity due to changes in the lung tissues and the thoracic wall. However, an increased respiratory rate is not a normal change; it is usually the effort of breathing that increases, not the rate. Instead, the respiratory rate may stay the same or decrease due to a blunted response to hypoxia or hypercapnia. Additionally, the decreased cough reflex is another change that can occur with aging, contributing to an increased risk of infections like pneumonia.
Various factors such as compliance and resistance affect the respiratory system. Compliance refers to how elastic the lung is, while resistance pertains to how much obstruction exists in the airways. In the context of aging, if the lung becomes less compliant, the lung tissues stiffen, and it can lead to conditions like fibrosis where the lung volume may decrease and the work of breathing increases. Moreover, increased resistance in the lung, as seen in diseases like asthma and emphysema, leads to obstructed airways, causing difficulty in breathing and inadequate gas exchange.