| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 28
| Issue : 1 | Page : 14-17 |
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Detection of early small airway obstruction in male adult smokers of an ethnic community in north east India
Govindaraj Yengkhom Singh, Nataraj L Singh, Uttam Banik, Gomti Ksh Devi
Department of Physiology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Govindaraj Yengkhom Singh
Department of Physiology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal - 795 004, Manipur
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-4958.135218
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Background: Cigarette smoking causes small airway obstruction (SAO) and is the harbinger of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the prevalence of SAO is reported to vary in different ethnic population and with amount of smoking. Respiratory symptoms are reported to be not reliable for determining early airway obstruction Objective: To find out the relationship of respiratory symptoms and amount of smoking with SAO detected by using spirometer among the smokers of an ethnic community. Materials and Methods: In all, 100 male adult current smokers of the Meitei community of Manipur in north east India performed the spirometry test. Results of forced expiratory flow rate at 25-75% (FEF 25-75%) , forced expiratory volume in 1st second (FEV 1 ) and percentage ratio of FEV 1 to forced vital capacity (FVC), i.e., (FEV 1 /FVC)% were used for determining SAO. A modified validated questionnaire was used for labeling respiratory symptoms of obstructive nature. Statistical analysis was done to test independence of symptom with SAO and also of amount of smoking (in pack year) with presence of SAO. Result: In all, 37% of the total study group (n = 100) were detected as having SAO and 49% of the total as having one or more respiratory symptoms. In all, 29.2% of the smokers who smoked less than 3 pack years (n = 65) were detected having SAO, whereas 51.4 % were observed among those smoking more than 10 pack years (n = 35). SAO varies directly with pack year significantly (P < 0.05). Association of respiratory symptoms with SAO was not significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that SAO is common among smokers of the Meitei community. It also supports others' studies, done obviously in different ethnic community, in which development of SAO directly varies with amount of tobacco smoking. Respiratory symptoms would not be reliable in the detection of SAO in this ethnic group also. |
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