Abstract
There are limited reference ranges for static lung volumes by plethysmography in the paediatric age range using modern equipment and the most recent guidelines, making accurate assessment of restrictive disease in children unreliable.
Aim: To derive age, height and sex specific reference ranges for plethysmographic static lung volumes in contemporary healthy Caucasian children
Methods: Data were collected by centres in Perth (Australia), Christchurch (New Zealand), Utrecht (Netherlands), Berne (Switzerland) and London (England) and collated. All subjects were healthy with no history of lung disease or preterm birth, aged 5-19yr. Age-height and sex specific reference equations were derived for TLC, FRC, RV and RV/TLC using the LMS method.
Results: Measurements were available from 1197 (582 male) subjects. FRC was related to height, weight and sex, TLC and RV/TLC to height, age and sex, and RV to height. Volume measurements of FRC, TLC and RV against height are shown in Fig 1. RV/TLC decreased with age (mean 0.33 at 6yr to 0.22 at 18 yr) and height and was lower in males.
Conclusion: Our data demonstrates multi-centre lung volume data can be successfully collated. These new reference equations for plethysmographic lung volume in the paediatric population will provide more accurate estimates of normal range, with clinical implications for the correct diagnosis of restrictive disease.
- © 2013 ERS
