Obesity negatively impacts lung function in children and adolescents

Abstract

Our results show that increasing weight status in children and adolescents is associated with a general reduction in lung volume measurements, which may reflect impaired lung function, increased respiratory symptoms, and decreased functional status.

Effects of obesity on lung volume and capacity in children and adolescents: a systematic review

“…, 28 All studies included in this review evaluated BMI through z-scores, which is in accordance with pediatric recommendations 2728 Of these, two studies17 , 20 showed the negative influence of BMI on FRC, ERV and RV through correlation testing and regression models. These results suggest that the higher the body composition, the lower the lung volume and capacity.…”

“…Thus, whereas FRC is the sum of RV and ERV, any change in these ventilatory variables implies in changes of this point of balance, as demonstrated by Davidson et al17 Changes in pulmonary bellows cause reduced lung volumes, with subsequent establishment of a restrictive pattern 2324 Kongkiattikul et al20 also reported that the reduction of FRC leads to increased air resistance, peripheral vascular resistance and impairs alveolar ventilation.…”

“…Half of the included studies was carried out in the Asian continent,19 , 20 followed by the American and European continents 1718 To date, no study was found carried out in the Brazilian pediatric population that aimed to evaluate the influence of obesity on lung volume and capacity.…”

“…Perhaps this lack of information at the national level is because there are few body plethysmographs in the country, as well as the high cost of the equipment and also the fact that it is harder to obtain a satisfactory test in a pediatric sample 26. Most studies used SensorMedics equipment17 , 19 , 20 and all of them normalized of lung volume results through the percentage of predicted,17 - 20 although a study did not report the equation used 18…”

“…Overall, the quality of the selected studies was high, ranging between moderate19 and high methodological quality 1718 , 20 For this evaluation, we used a modified scale to quantify observational studies 16.…”