Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a phenomenon of maternal adaptation to the increasing demands of the growing fetus. Pregnancy causes many visible and invisible changes in human body and it represents one of the best examples of selective adaptation in respiratory physiology. Many previous studies observed significant changes in pulmonary function tests in pregnant women as compare to non-pregnant women. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to study and compare pulmonary function tests, especially forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 ) and forced vital capacity (FVC) in healthy pregnant women and healthy non-pregnant women.
Materials and Methods: This case–control study was carried in the Department of Physiology, Rural Medical College, Loni, in collaboration with Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni, in Maharashtra. The study was carried out after the approval of the institutional ethics committee registration No. PMT/PIMS/RC/2012/25. Four hundred subjects were selected and divided into four groups, non-pregnant women, and normal pregnant women of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters. Pulmonary function tests were done using “Spirovit SP-1.”
Results: Highly significant decrease in the FEV1 and FVC (P < 0.001) was seen in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters of healthy pregnant women as compared to healthy non-pregnant women. Conclusion: FEV1 and FVC were significantly decreased in all the three trimesters of pregnancy. The mechanical effect of growing uterus and the interplay of estrogen and progesterone are attributed to the changes observed in pulmonary function test among pregnant women.