PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Berens, Tjerk
AU  - Mannee, Denise
AU  - Van Den Borst, Bram
AU  - Van Helvoort, Hanneke
TI  - Reliability of inspiratory capacity assessment
AID  - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2020.2166
DP  - 2020 Sep 07
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - 2166
VI  - 56
IP  - suppl 64
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/56/suppl_64/2166.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/56/suppl_64/2166.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2020 Sep 07; 56
AB  - Background: A frequent cause of exercise limitation and dyspnea in COPD is dynamic hyperinflation (DH), which is induced by airflow limitation due to emphysema and small airway disease. Successfully interventions and pharmacotherapy can show reduction of DH. End expiratory lung volume derived from repeated inspiratory capacity (IC) maneuvers during cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) is used as the golden standard to determine DH. Validity of this approach has been shown (Yan et al. ARJCCM 1997;156(1):55-9), however reliability of processing data for IC assessment by trained pulmonary function technicians is unknown.Aim: To evaluate the reliability of IC assessment by trained pulmonary function technician.Method: 10 trained pulmonary function technicians assessed 30 CPETs to determine IC at maximal exercise, blinded and in random order. Technicians had between 10-30 years of experience and received the same training. Out of the 30 tests, 10 were reevaluated by the same pulmonary function technician on a different time. The inter- and intra-observer agreement were calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for average measures.Results: The ICC for the inter-observer agreement was 0.919 (95% CI, 0.908-1.000) and the ICC for the intra-observer agreement was 0.982 (95% CI, 0.951-1.000).Conclusion: IC assessment by experienced pulmonary function technicians is a reliable method. With the knowledge from Yan et al. combined with this study, it can be concluded that the method to determine DH is accurate. In future studies, it would be of interest to investigate the effect of training and personal experience.FootnotesCite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2020; 56: Suppl. 64, 2166.This abstract was presented at the 2020 ERS International Congress, in session “Respiratory viruses in the "pre COVID-19" era”.This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).