title: Feasibility and reproducibility of spirometry and inductance plethysmography in healthy Brazilian preschoolers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preschoolers show peculiarities that reinforce the importance of assessing their pulmonary function. However, there are few data on the success rate and between-occasions reproducibility of pulmonary function tests in preschoolers, particularly in the Brazilian population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the success rate and between-occasions reproducibility of the variables obtained by spirometry and respiratory inductive plethysmography in healthy children aged 4-6 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Breathing pattern was assessed by plethysmography (tidal volume-V(T), respiratory rate-f, inspiratory duty cycle-Ti/Ttot, mean respiratory flow-V(T)/Ti, displacement of the rib cage-RC and phase relation during the total breath-PhRTB) and spirometry (forced vital capacity-FVC, forced expiratory volume in 0.5 sec-FEV0.5 and forced expiratory volume in first second-FEV1) in 47 healthy children, aged 4-6 years. To evaluate between-occasions reproducibility, 10 children (according to the sample size calculation) were reassessed after 3 weeks. Between-occasions reproducibility was evaluated by paired t-test, considering significant P < 0.05, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation of method error (CV(ME)).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed an 83% success rate for spirometry and a 98% success rate for plethysmography. Regarding reproducibility, there were no significant differences between the variables of any test. Spirometry ICC was above 0.80 and the CV(ME) was lower than 10%. The plethysmography ICC was between 0.61 and 0.95, and the CV(ME) was between 2% and 31%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest a high success rate in performing the pulmonary function tests and good between-occasions reproducibility for spirometry and plethysmography in healthy preschoolers.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Minas Gerais, Graduation Program in Science Rehabilitation, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Danielle C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: França
authors.forename: Paulo A M
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Camargos
authors.forename: Jocimar A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Mercês C S
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Abreu
authors.forename: Gilda Helena
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Avelar e Araújo
authors.forename: Verônica F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Parreira
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010991:Plethysmography / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013147:Spirometry / Q000379:methods*