Reference equations for pulmonary function testing in healthy Chinese children aged 4-18 years.

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Pediatric Respiratory Health
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Accurate spirometry reference equations are crucial for diagnosing and managing pediatric respiratory diseases.
• Existing global equations (e.g., GLI) have limited data from Asian populations.
• There is a need for spirometric reference equations specific to healthy Chinese children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate new spirometric reference equations for healthy Chinese children aged 4-18 years.
• To compare the performance of these new equations against existing Caucasian and Chinese pediatric reference equations.
• To provide accurate tools for assessing lung function in the Chinese pediatric population.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study of 8929 healthy Chinese Han children (aged 4-18) was conducted across 24 regions in China.
• Spirometry, physical measurements (height, weight), and demographic data were collected.
• Multiple linear regression models incorporating age, height, and weight were used to develop new prediction equations.

Main Results:

• Age, weight, and height were significant predictors of lung function (p < 0.001).
• Newly developed sex-specific equations showed high accuracy in internal validation (mean z-scores: -0.004 to -0.069).
• Existing Zapletal and GLI equations demonstrated over/underestimations of lung function parameters compared to the new Chinese equations.

Conclusions:

• New spirometry reference equations tailored for healthy Chinese children have been developed.
• These equations reflect current growth patterns and regional variations within China.
• The new equations offer a valuable, accurate clinical tool for pediatric respiratory assessments in China.