Influence of Age on Effort Required to Complete Spirometry in Children and Adolescents

Although effort required to complete spirometry is known to differ by age, no studies have addressed this issue. The present study aimed to identify the difference in the effort required to complete spirometry by age in children and adolescents. Data from 707 children (mean age, 10.2 years; range, 4-25 years) from 6 medical centers were analyzed. In addition to demographics, we obtained information on the time required for as well as the number of demonstrations and spirometry demonstrations and trials from the patients' electronic medical records. A total of 398 (56.3%) male participants were included, and 300 (42.4%) participants had no prior experience receiving spirometry. The mean time required for spirometry demonstration was 2.7 minutes (standard deviation [SD], 2.1 minutes), whereas that for spirometry trial was 5.9 minutes (SD, 5.1 minutes). The total mean time required for spirometry was 8.6 minutes (SD, 6.5 minutes). Significant negative associations were observed between age and effort required to complete spirometry with respect to the time and number of demonstrations and trials. The results of the present study suggest that age may affect the degree of effort required to complete spirometry, with a pattern of increasing effort with decreasing age. This finding provides important evidence for the establishment of health care policies especially regarding lung diseases that can benefit from spirometry.