Lung function assessment by electrical impedance tomography among obese patients

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Medical Imaging Technology
• Obesity Research

Background:

• Obesity is a global health concern linked to compromised respiratory function due to mechanical factors and comorbidities like asthma.
• Spirometry, the standard for lung function assessment, has limitations including measuring only global lung function and requiring significant patient effort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare and correlate lung function parameters measured by Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) and spirometry in obese and non-obese Chinese subjects.
• To evaluate the potential of EIT as a tool for lung function measurement in obese populations.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 42 obese and 35 non-obese Chinese subjects.
• Obesity was defined using the Asian population BMI cut-off of 25 kg/m² or higher.
• Lung function parameters were measured using both spirometry and EIT, with data analyzed for correlation.

Main Results:

• Spirometric values for Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1) and Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) showed good correlation between spirometry and EIT in both obese and non-obese groups.
• Pearson correlation coefficients for FEV1 were 0.705 (obese) and 0.673 (non-obese), both with p < 0.01.
• Pearson correlation coefficients for FVC were 0.568 (obese) and 0.541 (non-obese), both with p < 0.01.

Conclusions:

• EIT technology demonstrates comparable performance to spirometry in measuring lung function across obese and non-obese individuals.
• EIT presents a potential alternative tool for lung function assessment, particularly beneficial for obese subjects who may find spirometry challenging.