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Investigation into Deep Breathing through Measurement of Ventilatory Parameters and Observation of Breathing Patterns
08:34

Investigation into Deep Breathing through Measurement of Ventilatory Parameters and Observation of Breathing Patterns

Published on: September 16, 2019

Tidal breathing analysis in school-age children. Comparison with the parameters of forced expiration

Stefan S Kostianev1, Blagoy I Marinov, Nelly B Gencova

  • 1Department of Pathophysiology, Medical University - Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Folia Medica
|April 12, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Tidal breathing parameters (TBP) show high variability in children, limiting their use for diagnosing airflow obstruction (AFO). While useful for monitoring asthma, they cannot replace forced expiration tests for detecting overt AFO.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Respiratory Physiology
  • Diagnostic Methods in Pediatrics

Background:

  • Tidal breathing analysis (TBA) shows potential for monitoring airflow obstruction (AFO) in pediatric and critically ill populations.
  • Understanding tidal breathing parameters (TBP) in healthy and asthmatic children is crucial for evaluating respiratory function.
  • Comparison with forced expiration parameters is needed to establish TBA's clinical utility.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze tidal breathing parameters (TBP) in healthy and asthmatic school-age children.
  • To compare TBP with forced expiration parameters in the same age groups.
  • To assess the diagnostic capability of TBP for airflow obstruction.

Main Methods:

  • Study included 225 healthy children and 100 asthmatic children aged 7–14 years.
  • Analysis of tidal breathing parameters (TBP) including V(PTEF)/V(E) and T(PTEF)/T(E).
  • Comparison of TBP with forced expiration parameters and assessment using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves.

Main Results:

  • Tidal breathing parameters (TBP) exhibited significant inter- and intraindividual variability, even with averaged data.
  • Indices reflecting tidal expiratory flow (V(PTEF)/V(E), T(PTEF)/T(E)) showed high variability and no correlation with age or anthropometrics in healthy children.
  • These indices detected acute changes in asthmatic children and discriminated between subjects with and without airflow obstruction (AFO), but with weak discriminative capacity compared to FEV1.

Conclusions:

  • Tidal breathing parameters (TBP) offer supplementary insights into respiratory function but do not substitute forced expiration for detecting overt airflow obstruction in school-aged children.
  • The high variability of TBP necessitates careful interpretation in clinical settings.
  • Further research may explore refined methods for utilizing TBP in pediatric respiratory assessments.
Abstract

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