title: Lung function testing in children: importance of race and ethnic-specific reference equations.
abstract: Marked differences in lung function occur between children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds even when all known confounders including socioeconomic circumstances have been taken into account. Use of ethnic-specific equations, such as those recently published by the Global Lung Function Initiative, help to minimize such differences, thereby improving the accuracy with which lung disease can be identified and treated during childhood, as well as enabling the true impact of adverse environmental or socioeconomic exposures to be assessed, irrespective of ethnic background. In future, incorporation of ancestry and, within emerging nations undergoing secular changes in anthropometry, sitting height, into normative equations may further improve the accuracy of predicting lung function and hence assessment of disease severity within any given individual.
authors: Respiratory, Critical Care and Anaesthesia Section (Portex Unit), UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
authors: Janet
authors: J
authors: Stocks
authors: Samatha
authors: S
authors: Sonnappa
authors: Sooky
authors: S
authors: Lum
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: body size; ethnicity; lung function; lung function testing