Spirometric Reference Equations for Healthy Children Aged 6 to 11 Years in Taiwan

Tsai, Meng-Chiao; Jeng, Mei-Jy; Chang, Hua-Lun; Tsao, Pei-Chen; Yang, Chia-Feng; Peng, Yu-Yun; Lee, Yu-Sheng; Soong, Wen-Jue; Tang, Ren-Bin

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(10)70017-4

« Previous Next »Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 73, Issue 1 , Pages 21-28, January 2010

Spirometric Reference Equations for Healthy Children Aged 6 to 11 Years in Taiwan

Meng-Chiao Tsai
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Mei-Jy Jeng
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Department Of Pediatrics, National Yang-Ming University School Of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Correspondence to: Dr Mei-Jy Jeng, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Hua-Lun Chang
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Pei-Chen Tsao
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Department Of Pediatrics, National Yang-Ming University School Of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Chia-Feng Yang
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Yu-Yun Peng
- Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Department Of Pediatrics, National Yang-Ming University School Of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Yu-Sheng Lee
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Department Of Pediatrics, National Yang-Ming University School Of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Wen-Jue Soong
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Department Of Pediatrics, National Yang-Ming University School Of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Ren-Bin Tang
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Medical Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 28 April 2009; accepted 30 November 2009.

Background

Spirometry is a valuable technique for evaluating pulmonary function, but there were few normative reference values for young children in Taiwan, and none for the last 10 years. The objective of our study was to establish updated reference values and equations for children aged 6–11 years in northern Taiwan.

Methods

A total of 309 healthy children (153 boys and 156 girls) were enrolled in the present study. The data of at least 3 trials for each child were collected, and the highest values analyzed. The analyzed pulmonary function parameters were focused on forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁), peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% expired volume (FEF_25–75), and the ratio of FEV₁/FVC.

Results

The results revealed that there were mostly no significant differences between boys and girls, and the standing height (H, cm) was the factor with the highest correlation with the pulmonary function parameters. Regression equations of the major pulmonary function parameters for both boys and girls were obtained: FVC = −2.690 + 0.0330H; FEV₁ = −2.559 + 0.0311H; PEF = −300.231 + 3.938H; FEF_25–75 = −3.218 + 0.0425H (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our study determined the updated normative values and reference equations for Chinese children aged 6–11 years living in northern Taiwan. These values can be used as normative reference values to evaluate pulmonary function in diseased children with the same ethnicity and lifestyle.

Key Words: children , FEV₁ , FVC , pulmonary function , reference values , spirometry