Published ahead of print on February 13, 2003, doi:10.1164/rccm.200204-339OC Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 167, Number 9, May 2003, 1283-1286 A more recent version of this article appeared on May 1, 2003
Submitted on April 17, 2002 Sensitivity of Spirometric Measurements to Detect Airways Obstruction in InfantsMarcus H Jones1,1 Pediatric Pulmonology and Critical Care, Indiana University School of Medicine, James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN, USA * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rtepper{at}iupui.edu.
We evaluated the ability of forced expiratory flow volume curves from raised lung volumes to assess airway function among infants with differing severities of respiratory symptoms. Group 1 (N=33) had previous respiratory symptoms but currently asymptomatic; Group 2 (N=36) were symptomatic at time of evaluation. As a control group we used our previously published sample of 155 healthy infants. Flow volume curves were quantified by FVC, FEF50, FEF75, FEF25-75, FEV0.5, and FEV0.5/FVC, which were expressed as Z-scores. All variables except FVC had Z-scores significantly less than zero and distinguished Groups 1 and 2 with progressively lower Z-scores. The mean Z-scores of the flow variables (FEF50%, FEF75%, and FEF25-75%) were more negative than the Z-scores for the timed expired volumes (FEV0.5 or FEV0.5/FVC) for both groups. In general, measures of flow identified a greater number of infants with abnormal lung function than measures of timed-volume; FEF50 had the highest performance in detecting abnormal lung function. In summary, forced expiratory maneuvers obtained by the raised volume rapid compression technique can discriminate among groups of infants with differing severity of respiratory symptoms and measures of forced expiratory flows were better than timed expiratory volume in detecting abnormal airway function. Key words: infants, spirometry, forced expiratory flows
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