The Effect of Selected Exercise Training on Pulmonary Function Indices of Inactive Obese and Overweight Women: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: In medicine, obesity is considered as one of the health-threatening factors in the world, which is referred to as the disease of the century. Many diseases, including pulmonary disease, are directly related to obesity and cause a significant percentage of annual mortality. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of selected exercise training on pulmonary function indices of inactive overweight and obese women. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 26 obese and overweight women with the age range of 40 - 50 years and a BMI of 30.16 ± 3.26 who met the inclusion criteria in the study. After purposeful selection and measurement of anthropometric indices and pulmonary function, subjects were randomly assigned to two equal groups of control (n = 13) and experimental (n = 13). During the sport exercise protocol, an intervention was performed for eight weeks, three sessions per week, and each session 50 to 60 minutes in the indoor courtyard. On the other hand, no intervention was performed on the control group. The data gathered were then analyzed. To perform the intergroup comparison, correlated t-test was used and to compare the intergroup comparison an independent sample t-test, at the significant level of P < 0.05, was used. Results: The results showed that owing to the sport exercise there was a significant reduction in the experimental group regarding body weight (P < 0.016), body mass index (P < 0.002), and waist to hip ratio (P < 0.001), while the subjects’ maximum oxygen consumption (Vo2max) significantly increased (P < 0.001). In addition, comparing the two groups of study, the results of the independent sample t-test revealed that TV (P = 0.001), FVC (P = 0.001), FEV1 (P = 0.041), FEV1/FVC (%) (P = 0.001), and FEF 25% - 75% (P = 0.001) in the experimental group showed a significant improvement compared to the control group. Conclusions: Generally, it can be concluded that eight weeks of sport exercise program with weight loss has an effective role in improving the pulmonary indices in obese and overweight women; therefore, continuous physical activity can improve the performance of the pulmonary system.