Relationships between body composition and pulmonary function in a community-dwelling population in Japan

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine and Public Health
• Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases
• Body Composition Analysis

Background:

• Pulmonary diseases, including COPD, significantly decrease lung function.
• While body composition impacts lung function, few studies utilize visceral fat area (VFA).
• Understanding these relationships is crucial for public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between various body composition parameters and pulmonary function.
• Specifically examining the role of visceral fat area (VFA) in relation to lung function metrics.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study of 1,287 residents (aged 19-91) in rural Japan (2015-2016).
• Assessed pulmonary function via predicted forced vital capacity (predicted FVC%) and FEV1/FVC ratio.
• Measured body composition including VFA, body fat percentage (BFP), skeletal muscle index (SMI), BMI, waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).
• Spearman's partial correlation analysis adjusted for confounders.

Main Results:

• Significant correlations found between predicted FVC% and body composition varied by age and sex.
• Visceral fat area (VFA) correlated with predicted FVC% in older females and FEV1/FVC ratio in younger males.
• Other parameters like BFP, SMI, BMI, and WC also showed significant associations with lung function metrics.

Conclusions:

• Visceral fat accumulation may contribute to obstructive pulmonary disease development in young males.
• Increased visceral fat may accelerate lung function decline (predicted FVC%) in older females.
• Body composition, particularly VFA, is an important factor in maintaining pulmonary health across different demographics.