BACKGROUND: Studies on the behavior of respiratory muscle strength (RMS) in morbidly obese patients have found conflicting results. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate RMS in morbidly obese women and to compare the results by using different predictive equations. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study that recruited 30 morbidly obese women and a control group of 30 normal-weight women. The subjects underwent anthropometric and maximal respiratory pressure measurement. Visual inspection of the Bland-Altman plots was performed to evaluate the correlation between the different equations, with a p value lower than 0.05 considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The obese women showed a significant increase in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) values (-87.83±21.40 cmH(2)O) compared with normal-weight women (-72±15.23 cmH(2)O) and a significant reduction of MIP (-87.83±21.40 cmH(2)O) according to the values predicted by the EHarik equation (-130.71±11.98 cmH(2)O). Regarding the obtained maximal expiratory pressure (MEP), there were no between-group differences (p>0.05), and no agreeement was observed between obtained and predicted values of MEP and the ENeder and ECosta equations. CONCLUSIONS: Inspiratory muscle strength was greater in the morbidly obese subjects. The most appropriate equation for calculating the predicted MIP values for the morbidly obese seems to be Harik-Khan equation. There seem to be similarities between the respiratory muscle strength behavior of morbidly obese and normal-weight women, however, these findings are still inconclusive.
BACKGROUND: Studies on the behavior of respiratory muscle strength (RMS) in morbidly obesepatients have found conflicting results. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate RMS in morbidly obesewomen and to compare the results by using different predictive equations. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study that recruited 30 morbidly obesewomen and a control group of 30 normal-weight women. The subjects underwent anthropometric and maximal respiratory pressure measurement. Visual inspection of the Bland-Altman plots was performed to evaluate the correlation between the different equations, with a p value lower than 0.05 considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The obesewomen showed a significant increase in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) values (-87.83±21.40 cmH(2)O) compared with normal-weight women (-72±15.23 cmH(2)O) and a significant reduction of MIP (-87.83±21.40 cmH(2)O) according to the values predicted by the EHarik equation (-130.71±11.98 cmH(2)O). Regarding the obtained maximal expiratory pressure (MEP), there were no between-group differences (p>0.05), and no agreeement was observed between obtained and predicted values of MEP and the ENeder and ECosta equations. CONCLUSIONS: Inspiratory muscle strength was greater in the morbidly obese subjects. The most appropriate equation for calculating the predicted MIP values for the morbidly obese seems to be Harik-Khan equation. There seem to be similarities between the respiratory muscle strength behavior of morbidly obese and normal-weight women, however, these findings are still inconclusive.
Authors: Sjaak Pouwels; Marieke Kools-Aarts; Mohammed Said; Joep A W Teijink; Frank W J M Smeenk; Simon W Nienhuijs Journal: Springerplus Date: 2015-07-07