Association between nutritional status measurements and pulmonary function in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the association between nutritional status measurements and pulmonary function in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis.


METHODS
We evaluated the nutritional status of 48 children and adolescents (aged 6-18 years) with cystic fibrosis based on body mass index (BMI) and body composition measurements-mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) and triceps skinfold thickness (TST)-at a referral center in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pulmonary function was assessed by means of spirometry, using FEV1 to classify the severity of airway obstruction. We used Student's t-tests for comparisons between proportions and linear regression analysis for associations between continuous variables. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.


RESULTS
The evaluation of nutritional status based on BMI identified a smaller number of malnourished patients than did that based on MAMC (14 vs. 25 patients, respectively). Most of the patients presented mild pulmonary disease. Mean FEV1 was 82.5% of predicted. Pulmonary function was found to correlate significantly with BMI, MAMC and TST (p = 0.001, p = 0.001 and p = 0.03, respectively). All subjects with moderate or severe pulmonary involvement were considered malnourished based on BMI and body composition parameters. Of the 25 patients considered malnourished based on body composition (MAMC), 19 were considered well-nourished based on their BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, all nutritional status measurements correlated directly with the pulmonary function of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis. However, body composition measurements allowed earlier detection of nutritional deficiencies.
Chaves
Célia Regina Moutinho de Miranda
CR
Departamento de Alimentação e Nutrição, Instituto Fernandes Figueira, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. crchaves@iff.fiocruz.br
Britto
José Augusto Alves de
JA
Oliveira
Cristiano Queiroz de
CQ
Gomes
Miriam Martins
MM
Cunha
Ana Lúcia Pereira da
AL
D000293:Adolescent; D001132:Arm / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D012885:Skinfold Thickness