Effect of Body Fat Distribution on Pulmonary Functions in Young Healthy Obese Students

Background: Obesity is defined as “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health”. WHO defines obesity as Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥30 2 Kg/m . Obesity is becoming more prevalent in the world and has effects on different body systems. Main is the impact on respiratory function. Aim & Objectives: We have aimed to study the gender difference in obesity induced changes on pulmonary functions and determine adiposity marker which best predicts the pulmonary function in young adult obese individuals and age-matched non-obese young adult subjects. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional 2 study was conducted on obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m ) male (n=32) and female (n=18) students aged 18-25 years and compared with age matched non-obese (BMI 2 18.5–24.99 Kg/m ) male (n=23) and female subjects (n=27) as controls. Weight(kg), Height(cm), Body -2 Mass Index(BMI, kgm ), Waist Circumference(WC, cm), Waist to Hip Ratio(WHR),Waist to Height Ratio (WHtR), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC, L), Forced Expiratory Volume in first second (FEV , L/min), 1 FEV , FEF (L/sec), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate 1% 25-75% (PEFR, L/min) and Maximum Expiratory Pressure (MEP, mm Hg) were recorded. Results: Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure, Pulse Rate and Respiratory Rate were significantly higher in obese students when compared to their respective controls. We observed highly significant reduction in PEFR (p<0.001) and MEP (p