Abstract:
Objective: To record any physiological changes in lung function during healthy
pregnancies,
Design: A Prospective cohort study was done in Obstetrics Outpatient Department
of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital, Dhaka &Aysha
Memorial Specialized Hospital, Mohakhali, Dhaka and the population was 90
healthy women with singleton pregnancies.
Methods & Results: The women were studied with repeated measures of lung
function using spirometry at a gestational age of 14–16, 22–24, 30–32 and 36
weeks, and at 6 months postpartum. The main outcome measures were Forced
Vital Capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and
peakExpiratory flow (PEF), also expressed as a percentage of predicted values
according to age and height: i.e. FVC%, FEV1%, and PEF%. Both FVC and FVC%
increased significantly after 14–16 weeks of gestation (P = 0.001), as was the case
for both PEF and PEF% (P <0.001). FVC, FVC%, PEF, and PEF% in early and
mid-pregnancy were significantly lower compared with the postpartum value (all
P < 0.05). Nulliparous women had an overall 4.4% lower value of FVC% than
parous women (P = 0.039). There were no differences in FVC, FEV1, or PEF
dependent upon presentational overweight or excessive weight gain.