ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 1999 December;39(4):361-4

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Exercise-induced bronchospasm in nonasthmatic obese and nonobese boysys

Gokbel H., Atas S.

Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey

Background. In ­this ­study it was ­aimed to com­pare the ­degree and fre­quen­cy of exer­cise-­induced bron­chos­pasm (EIB) in non­asth­mat­ic ­obese ­boys ­with ­those in non­asth­mat­ic non­obese ­boys.
Methods. Participants: Fifty ­boys (24 ­obese and 26 con­trol), ­aged 11 to 15 ­years, ­with no his­to­ry of asth­ma or oth­er atop­ic dis­eas­es, ­took ­part in the ­study. Measures: Anthropometric meas­ure­ments and spi­rom­e­try ­were per­formed at ­rest and spi­rom­e­try was repeat­ed at 5 and 15 min­utes ­after an ­eight-min­ute sub­max­i­mal exer­cise on ­cycle ergom­e­ter.
Results. The ­falls in ­ratio of ­forced expir­a­to­ry vol­ume in one sec­ond (FEV1) to ­forced ­vital capac­ity (FVC) and expir­a­to­ry ­rates at 5 and 15 min­utes ­after the exer­cise ­were sig­nif­i­cant in ­obese ­boys. Only sig­nif­i­cant ­change was the ­fall in FEV1/FVC at 5th min­utes in con­trols. There was no sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence ­between ­obese ­group and con­trols in the num­ber of EIB-pos­i­tive cas­es. Pulmonary func­tion chang­es ­after the exer­cise had sig­nif­i­cant neg­a­tive cor­re­la­tion ­with ­body ­mass ­index, sub­scap­u­lar and ­biceps skin­folds.
Conclusions. Since the ­fall in pul­mo­nary func­tion was ­severe in ­obese ­boys and ­these ­falls ­were cor­re­lat­ed ­with ­body ­mass ­index and skin­folds, it is con­clud­ed ­that diag­no­sis and man­age­ment of EIB may ­improve aero­bic exer­cise per­for­mance and par­tic­i­pa­tion in ­obese chil­dren.