2006 Volume 33 Issue 4 Pages 470-473
Objectives To investigate the influence of weight gain on pulmonary function.
Design A cross-sectional study and a case-control study as a longitudinal study.
Setting and Participants Subjects consisted of 3, 611 males who consulted our institute for health screening, including 847 smokers.
Measurement and Results In the cross-sectional study, we compared percent vital capacity (%VC) and forced expiratory volume % in first second (FEV1.0%) among 5 BMI groups. And we also compared %VC and FEV1.0% among subjects with 3 smoking statuses; non-smoker, ex-smoker, and current smoker. In the longitudinal study, we investigated the relationship between annual changes in body weight and pulmonary function, then the changing values for pulmonary function pre and post smoking cessation in quitters were compared with annual data from current smokers. Multiple linear regression analyses were added in both studies.
As a result, weight gain tended to promote decreased %VC in both studies. However, there was a difference between the two studies in the relation between body weight and FEV1.0%. In the comparison between smoking status and pulmonary function, there were no obvious differences in %VC among the three smoking statuses. In the cross-sectional study, FEV1.0% for non-smokers was significantly higher than that for ex-smokers, and FEV1.0% for ex-smokers was significantly higher than that for current smokers. However, annual changes in the status after smoking cessation did not show significant variation in FEV1.0%.
Conclusions We consider that weight gain promotes decreased %VC.
