Obesity and metabolic disorders are a growing epidemic, where accumulations of fat significantly affect health and increase the prevalence and severity of lung diseases such as asthma. Obesity has significant effects on respiratory function due to both the changes in the mechanical properties of lung and chest wall, along with inflammatory effects of obesity. Obese individuals require an increase respiratory muscle recruitment in order to overcome the airway resistance, making the basic act of breathing more difficult. These individuals also tend to have a higher respiratory rate, lower tidal volume, and reduced lung compliance.
The flexiVent is a comprehensive tool that can be used to evaluate the effects of obesity and metabolic disorder on lung mechanics. As lung recruitment can increase in obese subjects, measuring the lung mechanical properties is a valid and reproducible assessment of lung function and characteristics. The flexiVent can be used to assess the effects of airway hyperresponsiveness on subjects that are suffering from obesity and consequentially asthma. It may also help measure the lung mechanics of the associated or already prevalent underlying respiratory health condition. Using compliance, elastance, airway resistance, lung tissue damping, lung tissue elastance to assess the lungs.
Lung impairments due to metabolic disorder and obesity are common. The whole-body plethysmography allow for a non-invasive assessment of the subjects breathing. In preclinical models it can be used when comparing obese subjects to control subjects. The vivoFlow also allows for monitoring of the subject over a period of time detecting the changes in breathing as they become more obese or over the subject’s life if they suffer from metabolic disorder. The ability to measure respiratory rate, tidal volume, minute ventilation, peak inspiratory and expiratory flow as well as Penh allows for a non-invasive analysis over a long period of time.
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