There is a need for quick, reliable, and noninvasive lung function tests

          to assess airway obstruction in preschool chil

Hop, W.C.J. (Wim)

Jongste, J.C. (Johan) de

Merkus, P.J.F.M. (Peter)

Mijnsbergen, J.Y.

There is a need for quick, reliable, and noninvasive lung function tests

          to assess airway obstruction in preschool children both for pediatric

          pulmonary care as well as for research purposes. We studied feasibility,

          reproducibility, and validity of measurements of the respiratory system

          using the interrupter technique (interrupter resistance [Rint]) and

          obtained reference values in children from a general population, 2 to 7 yr

          of age. Accuracy was studied by comparisons of Rint with plethysmographic

          airway resistance (Raw) in 20 patients (7 to 14 yr) with mild to severe

          chronic airways obstruction and was satisfactory in patients with FEV(1) >

          60% predicted. The technique proved sensitive enough to detect changes in

          airway caliber within a small group of 12 children who developed mild

          respiratory tract infections. Among children from a general population,

          subgroups with mild respiratory symptoms or mild respiratory disease had

          higher mean Rint values. Airway obstruction was better detected using

          expiratory rather than inspiratory interruptions, both programmed at peak

          tidal ventilatory flow. Reproducibility within subjects was satisfactory

          (intraclass correlation 0.82 and 0.79). The same applied to interobserver

          agreement (intraclass correlation 0.98). The interrupter technique proves

          to be a reliable and practical test of airway function, suitable for

          clinical and epidemiologic studies in preschool children

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Interrupter resistance in preschool children: measurement characteristics and reference values

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/9640/11371400.pdf

Interrupter resistance in preschool children: measurement characteristics and reference values

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