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The Effect of Body Mass Index on Spirometric Parameters in Children with Asthma
Amela Pasic1, Fahrija Skokic1, Fuad Pasic2
1Department of Pediatrics, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Insights
Childhood asthma is significantly impacted by obesity, leading to reduced lung function. Obese children showed poorer spirometry results, but improvements were noted after intervention, unlike normal weight and overweight groups.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Public Health
- Pediatric Obesity
Background:
- Asthma and obesity are significant global health concerns, often originating in childhood.
- Abdominal obesity negatively affects lung function, reducing forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC).
- Understanding the interplay between body mass and respiratory health in children is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of varying body mass index (BMI) percentiles on lung function in children with asthma.
- To compare spirometric parameters across normal weight, overweight, and obese pediatric asthma patients.
- To assess changes in lung function following a study period in different BMI categories.
Main Methods:
- A prospective study involving 60 children diagnosed with asthma.
- Participants were categorized into three groups based on BMI percentiles: 5-85 (normal), 85-95 (overweight), and >95 (obese).
- Spirometry was performed to measure pulmonary variables (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC ratio) before and after the study period.
Main Results:
- Obese children exhibited a significantly lower frequency of normal spirometric findings at baseline (p<0.05).
- Mixed and restrictive ventilation disorders were exclusively observed in the obese group at the study's onset (p<0.001).
- Spirometric parameters showed significant improvement in the obese group post-intervention, except for the FEV1/FVC ratio.
Conclusions:
- Obesity significantly impairs lung function in children with asthma, indicated by baseline spirometry results.
- Intervention led to measurable improvements in lung function for obese children, suggesting reversibility.
- Normal weight and overweight children with asthma did not show significant changes in spirometric parameters over the study period.
Aim:
Asthma and obesity represent one of the most crucial public and health problems of modern society that frequently begin in childhood and have some mutual elements of risk. Abdominal distribution of connective tissue is important determinant which brings to decrease of lungs function. Multiple influence of overweight on function of the lungs would clearly manifest over reduction of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC).
Method:
Examining was conducted at Pediatric Clinic of University Clinical Hospital Tuzla during the year 2013/2014. Research included 60 children with diagnosed asthma who were in relation to BMI were divided in 3 groups. The first group was children with BMI ranging from 5 to 85 percentile, the second were children with 85 to 95 percentile and the third was 95 percentile. By prospective study, compared identical pulmonary variable for all three age group of asthma patients were analyzed, the children with normal body mass a well as the overweight and the obese.
Results:
At the beginning of testing, the frequency of normal spirometric findings was significantly lower in the obese group in comparison with other two observed groups (p<0,05). The only cases of mixed and restrictive disorder of ventilation were registered in the obese group of tested at the beginning of the examined (p
Conclusion:
When being compared the values of spirometric parameters before and after the research, the only significant difference was in the obese group, the values after tests were significantly higher, with the exception of relation FEV1/FVC, that had the same distribution of values before and after research. However, the group with normal body mass and overweight, had all the spirometric parameters with equal distribution before and after research (p>0,05 for all measurements).
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