International Journal of Basic and Applied Medical Sciences ISSN: 2277-2103 (Online) An Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/jms.htm 2012 Vol. 2 (3) September-December, pp.185-189/Bamanikar and Amdani. Research Article 185 ASSESSMENT OF PULMONARY FUNCTIONS IN YOUNG OBESE MALES AND FEMALES IN THE AGE GROUP 18-25 YEARS *Khwaja Nawazuddin Sarwari 1 , Imtiaz Ali 1 , Kaleem Ahmed Jaleeli 2 and N.J. Shanmukhappa 3 1 Department of Physiology, Khaja Banda Nawaz Institute of Medical Sciences, Gulbarga, Karnataka 2 Biophysics Unit, Dept. of Physics, Nizam College, Osmania University, Hyderabad 3 Department of Physiology, J.J.M. Medical College, Davangere, Karnataka *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT The paper reports the pulmonary functions in obese young male and female subjects and compare the results with controls, 60 obese (30 males, 30 females) and 60 non-obese (30 males, 30 females) healthy young adults aged 18-25 years were selected based on body mass index (BMI). Pulmonary function tests were done using computerized RMS Medspiror. The study reveals that the pulmonary functions are reduced in obese group when compared with controls (non-obese groups). Key words: Pulmonary functions, Body Mass Index (BMI), Obese INTRODUCTION Obesity is a world wide public health problem with increasing incidence and prevalence, high costs and poor outcomes. As a disease, with defined Pathologic and pathophysiologic complications, it is just about a century old. Kasper et al., (2000) defined obesity as a state of excess adipose tissue mass. Marcus et al., (1998) suggested that the obese individuals have an increased prevalence of pulmonary disorders. Severe clinical obesity is associated with impairment of lung functions. Eisenmann et al., (2007) examined the influence of obesity on pulmonary function in Navajo and Hopi children and concluded that significant differences among obese and non-obese groups existed for FEV 1 % and FEF 25-75% in boys and FVC and FEV 1 in girls. A1-Badar et al., (2008) studied the relationship between obesity and pulmonary ventilatory functions in Kuwaiti adults. For the whole group, males or females, BMI and waist hip ratio were poor individual predictors of pulmonary ventilatory functions. Joshi et al., (2008) assessed the correlation of pulmonary functions with body fat percentage in young individuals and concluded that, in males and females overweight groups expiratory reserve volume (ERV), Forced vital capacity (FVC) and maximum ventilatory volume (MVV) are decreased significantly. Saxena et al., (2008) studied the dynamic pulmonary function tests in obese and non-obese young adults of Gharwal (uttrakhand, India) of 20-40 years of age group, randomly selected from the employees of Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, the results indicated significantly lower value of (FVC) forced vital capacity (2.89 + 0.29) and FEV in 1st Sec (2.59 + 0.25) in obese females. A perusal of literature reveals that a systematic work, on the assessment of pulmonary functions in young obese male and females was not done earlier, therefore the present study is taken up. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, J.J.M. Medical College, Davangere. 60 obese and 60 non-obese young males and females of the age group 18-25 years were selected randomly from the general population of Davangere city (students, healthy attendants of patients of Bapuji Hospital). Inclusion Criteria Young obese males and females aged 18-25 years. Young non obese males and females aged 18-25 years. Exclusion Criteria Age below 18 years and above 25 years, Subjects with history of Asthma, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, other cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disease or surgery, Subjects on chronic