Relationship of nutritional status and spirometric parameters in children with bronchial asthma

The potential mechanisms of bronchial asthma (BA) negative modification under the influence of obesity are currently being actively studied. However, at present, the effect of nutritional status on bronchial obstruction in children with BA cannot be considered established. In this regard, the purpose of this work was to study the relationship of spirometric parameters reflecting bronchial patency with nutritional status in children with asthma. Materials and Methods. The study involved 54 patients with BA at the age of 8 to 17 years, 33 boys and 21 girls with different nutritional status. Assessment of nutritional status was carried out with the calculation of body mass index (BMI), relative body mass index (RBMI), and determination of body fat (% BF). Spirogram parameters were evaluated, including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC ratio, maximum expiratory flow at the point of 25% loop flow-volume (MEF 25). Results. Among the children examined, taking into account the BMI Z-score, 9.3% (5/54) had low body weight (group 1), 33% (18/54) had normal body weight (group 2), 31.5% (17/54) overweight (group 3), 25.9% (14/54) obesity (group 4). As the body weight increased, a statistically significant decrease in the FEV1/FVC ratio was observed, amounting to 84.6 [79.3; 90.0], 79.4 [76.6; 82.2], 74.6 [71.7; 77.5], 70.2 [67.0; 73.4]%, respectively, p=0.003; as well as a decrease in MEF 25 (% pred.), which amounted, respectively, to 95.6 [76.1; 115.2], 81.7 [71.4; 92.0], 56.3 [45.7; 66.9], and 48.4 [36.7; 60.1]%, p=0.003. A statistically significant negative relationship was found between indicators of nutritional status, including BMI, RBMI, % BF, and spirometry parameters reflecting bronchial patency, including FEV1/FVC ratio and MEF 25 (% pred.); all p<0.01. Conclusions. Overweight and obesity in children with BA, estimated both by calculated methods with determination of BMI and RBMI and direct determination of body fat content, are accompanied by a statistically significant decrease in bronchial patency. © 2020, Privolzhsky Research Medical University. All rights reserved.