ABSTRACT
AIM: to investigate the spirometric response to the exercise challenge in asthmatic and non-asthmatic obese children. PATIENTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS: it was a prospective, longitudinal, open label clinical trial with four groups of children from 8 to 16 years. The group 1 had 15 asthmatic non-obese children. The group 2 had 15 asthmatic obese children. The group 3 had 15 non-asthmatic obese children. The group 4 had 13 control healthy children. Spirometry measures were realized at baseline, and after exercise at 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 60 minutes. Exercise challenge was performed on a walking band at 6 km/h speed and a slope of 10 degrees with a duration of 6 to 8 minutes. Data were are analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: the mean age was 11.8 +/- 2.1, and the mean height was 150.2 +/- 11.3 cm, the mean weight was 46.3 +/- 17.15 in the group 1, 59.4 +/- 11.9 in the group 2, 67.8 +/- 20.6 in the group 3, and 44.2 +/- 9.7 in the group 4. The mean values of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) for each group are shown on table II. CONCLUSIONS: the non-asthmatic obese children had a significant decrease in FEV1, meanwhile the asthmatic obese children had a deeper decrease in FEV1 than the asthmatic non-obese children. Obesity ay be a conditioning factor for bronchial hyperreactivity to the exercise.
