Correlation of Nutritional Status and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate in Normal South Indian Children Aged 6 to 10 Years

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many studies have been proved the relation between the nutritional habit and respiratory functions in south Indian children. The increase in respiratory problems due to increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) in children has been a major worldwide problem. Deposition of fat over the chest wall alters the Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) among pulmonary function test parameters. Among all the pulmonary function test parameters Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) directly indicate the nutritional status which is also an easy and non invasive method for estimating the lung function in children. AIM: To assess the effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Skin Fold Thickness (SFT) on PEFR in children aged 6 to 10 years of both the sexes. METHODS: We recruited 258 children aged 6 to 10 years of both sexes for our study. The anthropometric parameters including height, weight and BMI were measured. PEFR was measured using Peak Expiratory Flow Meter. The skin fold thickness was measured by using Digital skin fold caliper. Results were statistically analyzed by using Pearson Correlation co efficient test and ANOVA. RESULTS: In our study as age progresses the height of the children in both sexes also increases. Our results showed positive correlation between height, BMI and SFT with PEFR. Our results also showed as increase in age BMI remains constant however SFT showed positive correlation in our study population. CONCLUSION: We concluded that among the factors determine the nutritional status including BMI, effect of SFT on PEFR play an important role in the maintenance of normal pulmonary functions in children. Thus our study proved that the reason for the respiratory problem may be due to abnormal SFT which determines the total body fat apart from BMI.