Lung clearance index during hospital admission in school-age children with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Background

There is currently limited information regarding lung clearance index (LCI) and its response to treatment of pulmonary exacerbations in CF. We aimed to examine the utility of LCI for assessing short term clinical response to IV antibiotic therapy in school-age children with CF.

Methods

Subjects experiencing exacerbations and hospitalised for IV antibiotics performed both multiple breath nitrogen washout (MBNW) and spirometry on admission to hospital and prior to discharge.

Results

27 patients (aged 6–20 years) had paired data for MBNW and spirometry. Mean LCI reduced from 12.18 to 11.65 (4.4%) by time of discharge and FEV₁ z-score improved from − 3.05 to − 2.86 (6.2%). Overall, LCI improved in n = 15 (55%) patients compared with n = 18 (67%) where FEV₁ improved.

Conclusions

In summary, these findings do not support the use of LCI (or indeed, FEV₁) to gauge the short term clinical response to IV antibiotic therapy in school-age children with cystic fibrosis.