A study of body mass index and nasal mucociliary clearance in healthy South Indian adult volunteers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20161974Keywords:
Body masss index, Nasal mucociliary clearance, Obese, OverweightAbstract
Background:Overweight and obesity are associated with a variety of diseases including respiratory disorders like asthma, COPD and breathing disorders which can reduce the quality of life. Nasal mucociliary clearance (NMC) is a defence mechanism of the upper airways whereby mucus secreted by the mucociliary apparatus traps inhaled particulate matter and transports it to the pharynx where it is swallowed. The nasal mucociliary epithelium is a mirror image of the bronchial mucosa and is affected by various factors. Little is known about the effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) on respiratory epithelium function. Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of BMI on nasal mucociliary clearance.
Methods: NMC was measured in 60 healthy adult volunteers of age ranging from 20 - 35 years. The time taken to experience sweet taste at posterior nasopharynx following the placement of saccharin crystal in the nostril was recorded as NMC time. The height and weight of the subjects was recorded and BMI computed.
Results: Average NMC time (STTav) was 7.00 mins in the normal BMI category. However, we could not demonstrate much of a difference between this value and the mean in the overweight and obese categories, which were 7.16 and 5.81minutes respectively. Consistently, we observed faster clearance in the obese category compared to the normal and overweight, though the difference was not found to be statistically significant.
Conclusions: Our study did not demonstrate appreciable increase in NMC time among the overweight and obese compared to the normal BMI group.
References
Kalra S, Unnikrishnan AG. Obesity in India: the weight of the nation. J Med Nutr Nutraceut. 2012;1:37-41.
Zammit C, Liddicoat H, Moonsie I, Makker H. Obesity and Respiratory diseases. Int J Gen Med. 2010;3:335-43.
Haslam D, Sattar N, Lean M. ABC of obesity. Obesity -time to wake up. BMJ. 2006;333:640-2.
Bennett WD. Effect of beta-adrenergic agonists on mucociliary clearance. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2002;110:S291-7.
Pandya VK, Tiwari RS. Nasal mucociliary clearance in health and disease. Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. 2006;58(4):332-4.
Dalhamn T, Rosengren A. Effect of different aldehydes on tracheal mucosa. Arch Oto laryngol. 1971;93(5):496-500.
Houtmeyers SE, Gosselink R, Gayan-Ramirez G, Decramer M. Regulation of mucociliary clearance in health and disease. Eur Respir J. 1999;13:1177-88.
Bascom R, Kesavanathan J, Fitzgerald TK, Cheng KH, Swift DL. Sidestream tobacco smoke exposure acutely alters human nasal mucociliary clearance. Environ Health Perspect. 1995;103(11):1026-30.
Yadav J, Verma A, Gupta KB. Mucociliary clearance in Bronchial Asthma. Indian J Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2005;19(1):21-3.
King GG, Brown NJ, Diba C, Thorpe CW, Muñoz P, Marks GB, et al. The effects of body weight on airway calibre. Eur Respir J 2005;25(5):896-901.
Ho JC, Chan KN, Hu WH, Lam WK, Zheng L, Tipoe GL et al. The Effect of Aging on Nasal Mucociliary Clearance, Beat Frequency, and Ultrastructure of Respiratory Cilia. Am J Respir Cri Care Med. 2001;163(4):983-8.
Paul P, Johnson P, Ramaswamy P, Ramadoss S, Geetha B, Subhashini AS. The effect of ageing on nasal mucociliary clearance in women: a pilot study. ISRN Pulmonology 2013; Article ID 598589, 5 pages doi:10.1155/2013/598589. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/598589. Accessed on 18 May 2016.
McClean KM, Kee F, Young IS, Elborn JS. Obesity and the lung. Thorax. 2008;63(7):576-7.
Yadav J, Verma A, Singh J. Study on nasal mucous clearance in patients of perennial allergic rhinitis. Indian J Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2003;17(2):89-91.
Golhar S. Nasal mucus clearance. Journal of Laryngology and Otology. 1986;100(5):533-8.
Golhar, Arora MML. The effect of cryodestruction of Vidian nasal branches on nasal mucus flow in vasomotor rhinitis. Indian J Otolaryngol. 1981;33(1):12-14.
Joseph LR Valdez, Cruz ES. Nasal mucociliary clearance and abnormal body mass index (underweight and obese) in filipino adult volunteers. Philippine Scientific Journal. 01/2010; 42(1).
Priscilla J, Padmavathi R, Ghosh S, Paul P, Ramadoss S, Balakrishnan K et al. Evaluation of mucociliary clearance among women using biomass and clean fuel in a periurban area of Chennai: a preliminary study. Lung India. 2011;28(1):30-3.
Valía PP, Valero FC, Pardo JM, Rentero BD, Monte CG. Saccharin test for the study of mucociliary clearance: reference values for a Spanish population. Arch Bronconeumol. 2008;44(10):540-5.
Svartengren M, Mossberg B, Philipson K, Camner P. Mucociliary clearance in relation to clinical features in Mucociliary clearance in relation to clinical features in patients with bronchiectasis. Eur J Respir Dis. 1986;68:267-78.
