Authors : C Bharathi, T Kannan Kumar, R Niruba
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijcap.2019.063
Volume : 6
Issue : 3
Year : 2019
Page No : 287-290
Introduction: Obesity and its related pulmonary morbidities have become global epidemic. Association
between altered pulmonary functions and its relation with distribution of fat percentage in the body is
analysed in our study.
Material and Methods: Inclusion Criteria : Male subjects in the age group of 35-45 years with BMI
between 18.5-30 kg/m2.
Exclusion Criteria: Diabetics, hypertensives, a lcoholics, smokers and subjects with any other recent
illness. BC 601 TANITA Bioimpedence analyser was used to measure visceral fat and subcutaneous fat.
PEFR (Peak expiratory flow rate) was measured using Wrights peak expiratory flow meter. BMI was
calculated from height and weight of the subjects.
Results: Pearson correlation was applied. PEFR showed significant negative correlation with visceral fat
and subcutaneous fat with r value of -0.576 and - 0.409 respectively. PEFR showed only mild negative
correlation with BMI with r value - 0.203 when compared to regional fat.
Conclusion: Visceral fat and subcutaneous fat remains a better predictor than BMI in assessing the obesity
related morbidity of lung functions.
Keywords: Body Mass Index, Peak Expiratory Flow Rate, Subcutaneous fat, Visceral fat.