Body Position Effect on Respiratory Measures in Normal Adults

Abstract

Respiration plays a major role in the human for breathing and speech production. Respiratory measures vary depending on age, gender, weight, height. The present study was aimed to obtain normative baseline for respiratory parameters like forced vital capacity (FVC), forced vital ca- pacity in 1 second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV), and vital capacity (VC) at five different body positions like sitting, supine, prone, right lateral recumbent i.e., right side lying (RLR), and standing. A total number of 60 normal healthy individuals (30 male and 30 female) in the age range of 18-30 years were considered for the present study. A Spirometer system RMS Helios 401 was used to measure FVC, FEV1, PEFR, MVV and VC for every subject at different positions. Comparison between respiratory parameters to the five body positions and between genders was done. The mean values were higher at standing position, lesser at prone position for all the parameters in males and females. The mean differences were also observed between positions and between genders for the five parameters in repeated measures of ANOVA results. Thus, respiratory measures changes depending on the body position which might be due to physiological changes in thoracic cavity and muscles of respiratory system.