The reliability of a breath-hold protocol to determine cerebrovascular reactivity in adolescents

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is impaired in adolescents with cardiovascular disease risk factors. A breath-hold test is a noninvasive method of assessing CVR, yet there are no reliability data of this outcome in youth. This study aimed to assess the reliability of a breath-hold protocol to measure CVR in adolescents.

Twenty-one 13 to 15 year old adolescents visited the laboratory on two separate occasions, to assess the within-test, within-day and between-day reliability of a breath-hold protocol, consisting of three breath-hold attempts. CVR was defined as the relative increase from baseline in middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity following a maximal breath-hold of up to 30 seconds, quantified via transcranial Doppler ultrasonography.

Mean breath-hold duration and CVR were never significantly correlated (r < .31, P > .08). The within-test coefficient of variation for CVR was 15.2%, with no significant differences across breath-holds (P = .88), so the three breath-hold attempts were averaged for subsequent analyses. The within- and between-day coefficients of variation for CVR were 10.8% and 15.3%, respectively.

CVR assessed via a three breath-hold protocol can be reliably measured in adolescents, yielding similar within- and between-day reliability. Analyses revealed that breath-hold length and CVR were unrelated, indicating the commonly reported normalization of CVR to breath-hold duration (breath-hold index) may be unnecessary in youth.