Forced Expiratory Flow FEF 25-75 % and Body Mass Index among Young Adolescents

Received: 03-07-2021 / Revised: 26-07-2021 / Accepted: 17-08-2021 Corresponding author: Dr. Yogesh Kumar Yadav Conflict of interest: Nil Abstract In India, undernutrition coexists with obesity, thus demonstrating a double burden of the disease. The effect of the increased BMI and the body fat percentage on the pulmonary functions has been studied extensively. The effect of undernutrition on the pulmonary functions needs attention. FEF 25-75 (L/S) describes the amount of air expelled from the lung during the middle half of the forced vital capacity test. The study was conducted over 300healthy students (13-19 yrs.), 155 male subjects and 145 female subjects. Medspiror, computerised spirometer was used to record lung function parameter Forced expiratory flow (FEF25-75%). Pulmonary function parameter in different Body Mass Index (BMI) groups was tabulated. 262 subjects had BMI less than 18.5 (underweight), 36 subjects and BMI between 18.5-25 (normal weight), and 2 subjects had BMI more than 25 (overweight). Majority subjects (262) were underweight. subjects who were having low BMI had low Forced expiratory flow (FEF25-75%) as compared to normal BMI subjects. Our study also showed a marked reduction in FEF25-75% in the underweight group. This could be due to malnutrition. It is observed that PFT value FEF25-75% were significantly reduced in underweight young individuals, compared between males and females this study showed fall is more in female than males. Under nutrition should be identified as early as possible and should be corrected in order to ensure health of young individuals.