Behavior of respiratory muscle strength in morbidly obese women by using different predictive equations.
BACKGROUND
Studies on the behavior of respiratory muscle strength (RMS) in morbidly obese patients have found conflicting results.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate RMS in morbidly obese women and to compare the results by using different predictive equations.


METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study that recruited 30 morbidly obese women and a control group of 30 normal-weight women. The subjects underwent anthropometric and maximal respiratory pressure measurement. Visual inspection of the Bland-Altman plots was performed to evaluate the correlation between the different equations, with a p value lower than 0.05 considered as statistically significant.


RESULTS
The obese women showed a significant increase in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) values (-87.83±21.40 cmH(2)O) compared with normal-weight women (-72±15.23 cmH(2)O) and a significant reduction of MIP (-87.83±21.40 cmH(2)O) according to the values predicted by the EHarik equation (-130.71±11.98 cmH(2)O). Regarding the obtained maximal expiratory pressure (MEP), there were no between-group differences (p>0.05), and no agreeement was observed between obtained and predicted values of MEP and the ENeder and ECosta equations.


CONCLUSIONS
Inspiratory muscle strength was greater in the morbidly obese subjects. The most appropriate equation for calculating the predicted MIP values for the morbidly obese seems to be Harik-Khan equation. There seem to be similarities between the respiratory muscle strength behavior of morbidly obese and normal-weight women, however, these findings are still inconclusive.
Postgraduate Physical Therapy Program, Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil. empforti@unimep.br
Eli M
EM
Pazzianotto-Forti
Fabiana S
FS
Peixoto-Souza
Camila
C
Piconi-Mendes
Irineu
I
Rasera-Junior
Marcela
M
Barbalho-Moulim
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012132:Respiratory Muscles / Q000502:physiology*