Reference values for resistance and compliance based on the single occlusion technique in healthy infants from Southeast China

Background

Respiratory disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in infants and has a large impact on health care. The aim of this study was to present the reference values of resistance and compliance by using a single occlusion technique (SOT) in healthy infants in Southeast China.

Methods

Respiratory compliance (Crs) and respiratory resistance (Rrs) were measured in healthy infants, aged 1–96 weeks, by using SOT in the Children’s Hospital of FuDan University (Shanghai, China). For comparison, the infants were grouped by age as follows: 1–24, 25–48, 49–72 and 73–96 weeks. Multiple regression analysis was performed using age, length, weight, and body mass index (BMI) as the independent variables to obtain predictive equations, separated according to sex.

Results

We measured 205 healthy infants from birth up to 96 weeks of age (112 boys, 93 girls). Height and weight increased significantly with age. The Rrs declined with length, whereas the Crs increased. The median Rrs was 5.04 kPa/L/sec (range, 3.73–6.82 kPa/L/sec), and the mean Crs was 119.52±60.47 mL/kPa. Regression equations for Rrs and Crs were obtained.

Conclusions

We obtained reference values for passive respiratory mechanics by using SOT in healthy infants from Southeast China. These data provide references for assessing the normality of SOT measurements in infants.