International Journal of COPD (Jul 2023)

Correlation of Body Mass Index and Oxygen Saturation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients at a Tertiary Care Center in Nepal: A Cross-Sectional Study

  • Sangroula P,
  • Ghimire S,
  • Srivastava B,
  • Adhikari D,
  • Dhonju K,
  • Shrestha A,
  • Ghimire S

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18
pp. 1413 – 1418

Abstract

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Prativa Sangroula,1,* Sandip Ghimire,1,* Brajendra Srivastava,2 Divas Adhikari,3 Kiran Dhonju,4 Amit Shrestha,5 Sapana Ghimire6 1Department of Internal Medicine, Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Palpa, Lumbini, Nepal; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal; 3Department of Emergency Medicine, Bharatpur Hospital, Chitwan, Bagmati, Nepal; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal; 5Department of Psychiatry, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Lalitpur, Bagmati, Nepal; 6Department of Pathology, Shahid Dharma Bhakta National Transplant Centre, Bhaktapur, Bagmati, Nepal*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Sandip Ghimire, Department of Internal Medicine, Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Palpa, Lumbini, Nepal, Tel +9609369402 ; +9779851119799, Email [email protected]: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. COPD is associated with clinically relevant pulmonary and extrapulmonary manifestations, including hypoxemia and weight loss. The correlation of body mass index (BMI) and oxygen saturation (SpO2) with COPD grades may provide a useful additional marker for understanding and managing the disease. The aim of the study was to study the correlation of BMI and oxygen saturation with COPD in patients presenting to a tertiary care center in Nepal.Patients and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 145 COPD patients visiting the Department of Medicine in Shree Birendra Hospital between 1 March 2019 and 28 February 2020. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used and data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Out of 145 COPD patients, 58 (40%) were underweight, 53 (36.55%) were of normal weight, 20 (13.79%) were overweight, and 14 (9.6%) were obese. The number of underweight patients was highest in COPD grade 4 and lowest in COPD grade 1. The proportion of subjects with underweight BMI and hypoxia increased with COPD severity, and both were statistically significant (p-values < 0.01).Conclusion: Our study shows that BMI and oxygen saturation have an inverse association with COPD severity. The correlation of BMI and oxygen saturation with COPD grade could provide a supplementary marker of disease severity, which could be useful in the understanding of the disease process and subsequent management of COPD.Keywords: body mass index, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, oxygen saturation, chronic obstructive airway disease

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