Effects of water immersion on lung volumes: implications for body composition analysis

Abstract

Lung volumes of 20 healthy young men were measured before and after water immersion to the neck level. Immersion resulted in significant decreases (P less than 0.01) in forced vital capacity (FVC) (8.9%), expiratory reserve volume (ERV) (61%), total lung capacity (TLC) (5.6%), and functional residual capacity (FRC) (2.9%). Significant increases were observed in inspiratory capacity (IC) (10%) and residual volume (RV) (6.7%). The increase in RV was attributed to a possible “stiffness” of the lung tissue caused by pulmonary vascular engorgement. Densitometric analysis was made on each subject using hydrostatic weighing techniques. Subsequent calculation of body density and per-cent body fat indicated significant (P less than 0.01) differences when using RV measured on land and in water. Body fat was 14.0% using the land RV in the computation of density and decreased to 13.4% using the RV measured in water. It was concluded that when obtaining body density values. RV should be measured concurrently while the subject is in the water.