Influence of body armour on pulmonary function

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine if lightweight body armour (weighing less than 10 kg) would influence pulmonary function in a manner similar to that reported previously for backpacks and heavily weighted jackets. In three separate experiments involving a total of 30 healthy young males wearing three types of body armour, there was a statistically significant (p<0·05) reduction in forced vital capacity (FVC) of 2%-3% together with a similar but non-significant reduction in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁) without any change in FEV₁ FVC⁻¹ ratio. This is characteristic of a mild restrictive type of reduction in pulmonary function. The extent to which these changes are due to the weight of the body armour or the tightness of fit are unknown, although a reduction of 10-4% in the maximum voluntary ventilation sustained for 15 s observed in the lightest of the three types of body armour suggests that tightness of fit may be important. The practical consequences of these findings are minimal whilst a person is inactive, but may assume increasing importance when body armour is combined with backpack load carriage during sustained aerobic exercise.

Keywords:

• Protective clothing
• Ventilatory capacity
• Load carriage.

Notes

New address: Defence Environmental Medicine Unit, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF Auckland, Hobsonville, New Zealand.