title: Underweight and overweight men have greater exercise-induced dyspnoea than normal weight men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Persons with high or low body mass index (BMI), involved in clinical or mechanistic trials involving exercise testing, might estimate dyspnoea differently from persons with a normal BMI.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to investigate the relationship between BMI and dyspnoea during exercise in normal subjects with varying BMI.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 37 subjects undertook progressive exercise testing. Subjects were divided into three groups: underweight (UW), normal weight (NW), and overweight (OW). Dyspnoea was estimated using the visual analogue scale (VAS). Spirometry, maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV), and respiratory muscle strength (RMS) were measured.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intercept of the VAS/ventilation relationship was significantly higher in NW subjects compared to UW (P = 0.029) and OW subjects (P = 0.040). Relative to the OW group, FVC (P = 0.020), FEV(1) (P = 0.024), MVV (P = 0.019), and RMS (P = 0.003) were significantly decreased in the UW group. The greater levels of dyspnoea in UW subjects could possibly be due to decreased RMS. Healthy persons should aim to achieve an optimum BMI range to have the lowest exercise-induced dyspnoea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Kingdom of Bahrain. feisalmm@agu.edu.bh
authors.forename: Mirza M F
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Subhan
authors.forename: Syed A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Syed S I
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Bokhari
authors.forename: Mohammed N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Hakimuddin R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Ahmad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D013851:Thinness; D055815:Young Adult