Correlação do pico de fluxo expiratório com a obesidade em crianças e jovens adultos: revisão sistemática

Abstract

Introduction: The assessment of lung function, such as peak expiratory flow (PEF) is relevant for the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases, and obesity is a risk factor for some disorders, especially in children and adolescents. Objectives: To verify available evidence regarding the correlation between peak expiratory flow and obesity in children and young adults. Methods: A systematic review was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and COCHRANE Library databases, using the terms "Expiratory peak flow rate", "Child" and "Obesity" and their respective synonyms between May and July 2021, following the protocol of the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses (PRISMA) Statement”, and the guidelines of the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The studies were assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of bias tool. Results: 16 articles were found in the databases, 3 of which were eligible for final analysis and data extraction. All studies included children or young adults aged up to 20 years, with obesity and a non-obese control group, conducted in Egypt, Malaysia and Nepal. The analyzes determined a significant correlation between BMI for determining obesity and PEF in 2 studies, with the higher the BMI, the lower the PEF, whereas in 1 study there was no correlation between these variables. Conclusions: Although there is little available evidence that correlates peak expiratory flow and obesity in children and young adults, it is concluded that there is a possible inverse relationship between these two factors.