Influence of abdominal adiposity on pulmonary function test values in healthy female population with different body positions

Abstract

Background: According to the WHO, female obesity is double that of the male population, and obesity is associated with respiratory disorders due to changes in the biomechanics of the diaphragm. Pulmonary function test (PFT) is usually done in an upright posture, but obese people might not be able to sit up during PFT. Hence, this study investigates changes in position that alter the PFT values in healthy females with abdominal fat deposition.

Method: This experimental study was done on 34 randomly selected female college students (18−25 years old) with a waist-hip ratio of >0.85 cm2 . In three distinct positions—supine, sitting, and side-lying—the forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) standard spirometric tests were compared.

Result: Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software. Descriptive data were found by mean and standard deviation. An analysis of variance and the Bonferroni test were applied to find a significant difference in test score between three different body positions. There is a significant difference among the tested three positions; a p > 0.05 was found between supine versus sitting and supine versus side-lying, whereas the mean value between side-lying versus sitting showed a statistically significant difference of p < 0.05.

 Conclusion: Change in position has significant effects on spirometric parameters in healthy asymptomatic females with central obesity. But a statistically significant and clinically improved result was found in sitting versus sidelying position. Hence, this study suggests that adopting a side-lying position for evaluating lung function will not make much difference in PFT values.