• Mehdi Chlif, Abdou Temfemo, David Keochkerian, Dominique Choquet, Anis Chaouachi, and Said Ahmaidi.
• Sport Science Department, Picardie Jules Verne University, F-80025 Amiens Cedex, France Tunisian Research Laboratory Sport Performance Optimization, National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports, Tunis, Tunisia mehdi.chlif@gmail.com.
• Respir Care. 2015 Apr 1;60(4):549-60.

BackgroundWe investigated the role of mechanical ventilatory constraints in obese class III subjects during incremental exercise.MethodsWe examined 14 control subjects (body mass index [BMI], 23.6 ± 3.2 kg/m(2)), 15 obese class II subjects (BMI, 37.2 ± 4.5 kg/m(2)), and 17 obese class III subjects (BMI, 53.4 ± 6.8 kg/m(2)). All subjects performed pulmonary function tests and maximal inspiratory pressure at rest, ventilatory parameters, flow-volume loops, and rated perceived exertion and breathlessness during exercise.ResultsAll subjects had normal pulmonary function. Obesity resulted in increased minute ventilation for a given submaximal work rate, although minute ventilation during peak exercise was lowest in the obese class III subjects. End-expiratory lung volume was significantly lower in the obese subjects at rest and during exercise at the ventilatory threshold but not during peak exercise. During heavy-to-peak exercise, the obese subjects increased their end-expiratory lung volume, whereas the control group continued to decrease this parameter. Compared with controls, end-inspiratory lung volume was significantly lower in obese class II subjects and obese class III subjects at rest and at the ventilatory threshold but not during peak exercise. At maximal exercise, obese class III subjects had a greater end-inspiratory lung volume than obese class II subjects and controls. Obese class III subjects displayed a greater expiratory air flow limitation at rest, at the ventilatory threshold, and during peak exercise than both controls and obese class II subjects.ConclusionsMechanical ventilatory constraints increase progressively with degrees of obesity, contributing to exercise limitation in obese subjects.Copyright © 2015 by Daedalus Enterprises.

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