Comparison of Body Composition Indices of Chemical Warfare Veterans with Chronic Pulmonary Obstruction in Patients with Low and Moderate to High Disease Severity

More than 100,000 Iranian veterans suffer from chemical damage caused by mustard gas. The aim of this study was to determine the body composition status of chemical warfare veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This is a cross-sectional study. 97 chemical warfare veterans with COPD in Karaj, Iran were included in the study. The Patients were divided into two groups low and medium to high disease severity according to spirometry parameters. The body composition parameters were evaluated using the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis method. 

Mean age, height and weight of patients were 49.19±3.86, 171.85±6.11, 79.24±11.09, respectively. 65.6 % of them were overweight or obese. According to spirometry indexes, 55.7% (n=54) of veterans had low disease severity and 44.3% (n=43) had moderate to high disease severity. There was a significant difference between chemical veterans with low severity of COPD and moderate to high severity of COPD in body fat-free mass (p-value=0.031), body muscle mass (p-value=0.026) and body water (p-value=0.031) indices. All three indices in the group of veterans with moderate to high disease severity had a higher mean than the veterans with low disease severity. But no significant difference was observed in the fat mass index between these two groups (p-value=0.527).

According to the findings of this study, the severity of the disease in chemical veterans with COPD had an increasing effect on fat-free mass and muscle mass body composition.