Avaliação do teste espirométrico em pré-escolares na unidade hospitalar

Abstract

Introduction: spirometry is essential in the evaluation of pulmonary function in patients with respiratory symptoms or after therapeutic intervention of several pathologies.
In 2007 the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) recom
mended guidelines for acceptability and reproducibility of spirometry in preschool children. Objective: to determine the feasibility of performing spirometry in pre-school children in clinical practice. Methods: the FVC, FEV1, FEV0.5 and FEV0.75 measurements of children aged three to six years were collected from the respiratory function test sector. All
curves selected followed the standards established by ATS/ERS. In order to increase the
reliability of the tests, at least three acceptable and two reproducible curves were obtai
ned. The spirometer used was the Jaeger MasterScope (v.4.65, CareFusionLtd), with daily
calibration performed before the exams. Categorical variables were compared using the
Chi-Square test. For the continuous variables, the Mann-Whitney test was used. Results:
of the 147 children initially included in the study, 22 did not produce any or only one ac
ceptable curve and were excluded. The mean age of the 125 subjects involved was 4.81
(± 0.88) years. More than 73.6% of the children were able to produce FVC and FEV1 after
previous training. Conclusion: pre-school children are able to perform spirometry with
differentiated criteria and Z-score analysis.