Respiratory function is impaired in obesity but there are limitations with body mass
index and skin-fold thickness in assessing this effect. The present authors hypothesised that the
regional distribution of body fat and lean mass, as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry
(DXA), might be more informative than conventional measurements of total body fat.
In total, 107 subjects (55 female, 51.4%) aged 20–50 yrs with no respiratory disease were
recruited. Respiratory function tests, anthropometric measurements and a DXA scan were
performed. Partial correlation and linear regression analyses were used to explore the effect of
adiposity and lean body mass on respiratory function.