Pulmonary function tests in patients with Parkinson's disease: A case-control study

In Parkinson's disease (PD), morbidity and mortality are commonly caused by respiratory disorders from pulmonary function impairments.

The study aims to evaluate pulmonary functions in a cohort of patients with PD in comparison with age- and sex-matched control.

Pulmonary function test (PFT) was conducted using the Spirolab Spirometry kit, and results of forced vital capacity (VC), forced expiratory volume 1 (FEV1), FEV1/VC, and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) were obtained from 78 PD patients and 78 healthy controls.

A total of 78 patients and 78 age- and sex-matched control comprising 60 (76.9%) males and 18 (23.1%) females were evaluated. The mean age ± standard deviation of the patients were 62.32 ± 8.67 and 62.31 ± 8.66, respectively; the difference in their age was not statistically significant (P = 0.993). The majority (38.5%) of the patients was in stage II of Hoehn and Yahr of PD. Vital capacity (VC) in PD patients and control was 2.481 and 3.106; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). The mean FEV1 in PD patients and control were 1.887 and 2.494; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). The mean FEV1/VC percent in PD patients and control were 75.812 and 80.303; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). The mean PEFR in PD patients and control were 45.58 and 67.46; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Considering PD arm of the study, with the exception of FEV1/VC, there was significant negative correlation between all the parameters of PFT and patients age (VC, FEV1, PEFR, r = -422 and P = 0.0001, r = -391 and P = 0.0001, and r = -0.244 and P = 0.031, respectively).

In this study, the values of the evaluated PFTs (VC, FEV1, FEV1/VC, and PEFR) parameters were significantly lower in PD compared with age- and sex-matched control.