Pulmonary Functions in Volleyball and Basketball Players of Kolkata, India

Abstract

Background: Assessment of lung function is an indispensable tool for determination of the health status in case of the athletes. Present study focused on evaluating the lung function parameters for the state-level male basketball players and male volleyball players of West Bengal, India apart from comparing the data with their agematched healthy, sedentary male counterparts. Methods: State-level young male basketball (n = 40) and volleyball (n = 40) players being involved in athletic training for a minimum of 5 years were employed in the study from several sports clubs in Kolkata. Sedentary group subjects (n = 30) who were non-smokers and belonging to similar socioeconomic background served as the control group for the study. Standard procedures were followed for measurement of the physical parameters and pulmonary functions. Results: Physical parameters like body height, body weight were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in case of the sedentary male control subjects when compared against both basketball and volleyball players. Vital capacity (VC), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), end expiratory flow (FEF75%-85%) and peak expiratory flow rates (PEFR) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher for both the basketball and volleyball players in contrast to their age-matched, healthy sedentary counterparts. Body height and body weight were found to be correlated significantly with the lung function parameters. For prediction of the pulmonary function parameters in the studied population, both simple as well as multiple linear regression equations were computed. Conclusion: Data from the study revealed that participation in court sports like Basketball and Volleyball lead to improvement of the pulmonary functions status of the athletes possibly due to their training pattern and game demands. Prediction of the pulmonary function in the studied population may be done by employing the regression equations.