Influence of abdominal adiposity on pulmonary function test values in healthy female population with different body positions

Abstract

Background:According to the WHO, female obesity is double that of the male population, and obesity isassociated with respiratory disorders due to changes in the biomechanics of the diaphragm. Pulmonary functiontest (PFT) is usually done in an upright posture, but obese people might not be able to sit up during PFT. Hence, thisstudy investigates changes in position that alter the PFT values in healthy females with abdominal fat deposition. Method:This experimental study was done on 34 randomly selected female college students (18−25 years old)with a waist-hip ratio of>0.85 cm2. In three distinct positions—supine, sitting, and side-lying—the forced vitalcapacity and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) standard spirometric tests were compared. Result:Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software. Descriptive data were found by mean and standarddeviation. An analysis of variance and the Bonferroni test were applied to find a significant difference in test scorebetween three different body positions. There is a significant difference among the tested three positions; ap>0.05was found between supine versus sitting and supine versus side-lying, whereas the mean value between side-lyingversus sitting showed a statistically significant difference ofp<0.05. Conclusion:Change in position has significant effects on spirometric parameters in healthy asymptomatic femaleswith central obesity. But a statistically significant and clinically improved result was found in sitting versus side-lying position. Hence, this study suggests that adopting a side-lying position for evaluating lung function will notmake much difference in PFT values.