Increased Abdominal Perimeter Differently Affects Respiratory Function in Men and Women

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic being the main cause of cardiovascular, metabolic disturbances and chronic pulmonary diseases. The increase in body weight may affect the respiratory system due to fat deposition and systemic inflammation. Herein, we evaluated the sex differences in the impact of obesity and high abdominal circumference on basal ventilation. Thirty-five subjects, 23 women and 12 men with a median age of 61 and 67, respectively, were studied and classified as overweight and obese according to body mass index (BMI) and were also divided by the abdominal circumference. Basal ventilation, namely, respiratory frequency, tidal volume, and minute ventilation, was evaluated. In normal and overweight women, basal ventilation did not change, but obese women exhibited a decrease in tidal volume. In men, overweight and obese subjects did not exhibit altered basal ventilation. In contrast, when subjects were subdivided based on the abdominal perimeter, a higher circumference did not change the respiratory frequency but induced a decrease in tidal volume and minute ventilation in women, while in men these two parameters increased. In conclusion, higher abdominal circumference rather than BMI is associated with alterations in basal ventilation in women and men.