Abstract
Background: Obesity has an increasing prevalence worldwide in both industrial and developing countries. It also leads to serious complications among most body systems including the respiratory system; which has not been well studied and proven in Arab countries. Objective: To evaluate the association between obesity degrees, and pulmonary function parameters. Methods: Non-asthmatic children aged 5 to 14 years old were enrolled in this study. We obtained height and weight for each child then we calculated body mass index. We performed pulmonary function tests using spirometer. Results: This study included a total of 99 children (51 boys, 49 girls), the mean age was 10.5 years. Spirometric parameters such as Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) was higher in children with overweight and obesity. While Forced Expiratory Volume during the first second (FEV1) in addition to FEV1 to FVC Ratio were lower in children with overweight and obesity. There also was a negative linear correlation between Body Mass Index in percentiles and FEV1, FEV1/FVC Ratio, which reflects an airway obstruction inappropriate with lung volumes. Conclusion: we recommend conducting the measurement of pulmonary function via spirometer within the investigations of children with overweight and obesity to detect pathological changes as early as possible.
Highlights
Obesity has an increasing prevalence worldwide in both industrial and developing countries
Forno found in his review on pulmonary function test results in adults with obesity that there was an inverse correlation between BMI and lung volumes (FEV1, Forced Vital Capacity (FVC)) with normal FEV1/FVC ratio which reflects a restrictive ventilatory deficit [13]
In this study our results suggest that pulmonary function in children with overweight and obesity defined by BMI percentiles characterized by reduction in FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio and elevation in FVC
Summary
Obesity has an increasing prevalence worldwide in both industrial and developing countries. Results: This study included a total of 99 children (51 boys, 49 girls), the mean age was 10.5 years. Spirometric parameters such as Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) was higher in children with overweight and obesity. Forno found in his review on pulmonary function test results in adults with obesity that there was an inverse correlation between BMI and lung volumes (FEV1, FVC) with normal FEV1/FVC ratio which reflects a restrictive ventilatory deficit [13]. The cardiovascular complications of obesity have been known and proven by researchers [15] while studies on respiratory complications are still limited with inconsistent results [16] as well as these complications tend to be silent and can cause -without treatment- irreversible pulmonary hypertention and heart failure [17], this confirms the importance of investigating it early in childhood period.
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