Changes in Basic Pulmonary Indices of Obese Women Resident in Rivers State, Nigeria

Obesity and pulmonary diseases are said to be co-prevalent and debilitating chronic illnesses that are becoming more and more commonplace globally. This study thus, evaluated the changes in basic pulmonary indices of obese women resident in Rivers State, Nigeria. The minimum sample size of 272 was determined using the Leslie Fischer's formula; exactly 334 obese and non-obese women within their 18 and 65 years of age with no critical health condition and resident in Upland and Riverine areas of Rivers State were actually surveyed by the present study. A multistage sampling technique was adopted, and subjects were surveyed across the upland and riverine locations of the State. These subjects were evenly drawn from the multi-ethnic residents of the state. Automated spirometer was used to measure forced vital capacity (FVC); forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1 and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced expiratory volume in 6 second (FEV6) and the FEV1/FVC ratio. The quantitative data were subjected to statistical analyses using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test with a p< 0.05 considered statistically significant were determined. The result indicated that the obese subjects had reductions in some pulmonary indices, like FVC levels. On the other hand, the FVC/ FEV1 ratio had significant (p<0.05) increases following increasing BMI. Further evaluations on the actual impact of obesity on FVC/ FEV1 ratio may shade more light in this direction.