PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Charalampos Mandros
AU  - Dimitrios Ntelios
AU  - Ioanna Tassiou
AU  - Evangelos Potolidis
AU  - George Tzelepis
TI  - Can sniff nasal pressure (SNIP) measurement be used interchangably or complementary to maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) to ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients?
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P2533
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2533.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2533.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Introduction:Previous studies have shown that respiratory muscle strength was reduced in AS patients. Sniff inspiratory manoeuvre is an easier way to evaluate inspiratory muscle strength, since it needs less coordination and seems to be complementary to MIP.Aims: The scope of our study was to test the implementation of SNIP manoeuvre in AS patients and compare the results with MIP, in order to find if SNIP can be used intechangebly or complementary to these patients.Methods: We recruited 44 AS patients and we performed MIP and SNIP manoeuvres. Data were then compared with the lower limits of normal for MIP and SNIP according to age and gender.Results:MIP gaves a diagnosis of muscle weakness in 5 cases (11%) whereas SNIP in 3 cases (7%).View this table:Comparison of MIP and SNIP measurementsDespite the fact that we observe strong positive correlation between MIPact and SNIPact (r = 0.7), the two tests was in agreement (for weakness) in only one case(Kappa coefficient=0.180, 95%CI=[-0.235,0.595]).Conclusions:Respiratory muscle function is compromised in a small percent of our AS patients. Agreement in patient classification between MIP and SNIP was poor. It seems that the these tests can be used complementary in order to increase diagnostic precision.