Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Spirometry Reference Values among Children and Adolescents of Karachi

Aim: The aim of the study is to assess the influence of socioeconomic status on the lung function among the children and adolescents of Karachi.

Study Design: The current study is a cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Sampling was started in April 2017 and ended up in October 2017. The data were collected from different primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary schools of Karachi.

Methodology: The study participants enrolled were between the age group of 7-18 years. A modified form of International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire was used. All the spirometry variables were measured and interpreted, these including forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow rate, forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% expired volume. ANOVA was applied to evaluate group variation while intragroup variations were analyzed by using Post-Hoc Tukey’s test.

Results: The pulmonary variables like FVC, FEV1, PEF and FEF25-75 had a significant value with socioeconomic status, on the other hand, the ratio of FEV1/FVC was presented as non-significant but fortunately it persisted higher than 90% among all groups. After applying Post-Hoc Tukey’s test all the spirometry variables showed significant intra-group variations as P value was less than .05 mentioned.

Conclusion: It is concluded that the socioeconomic status of children should be considered during evaluation of lung function, especially in the settings of developing countries.