Repeatability of Respiratory Impedance and Bronchodilatory Response in Asthmatic Children
Abstract
Asthma is a chronic illness that affects approximately 10% of children in the developed world. Objective assessment is recommended using spirometry to obtain the forced expired volume in 1 second (FEV1), usually combined with inhaled bronchodilator to assess airway reversibility. However this measurement is often not done, possibly due to the difficulty involved in the test. A potentially easier to perform measurement is oscillometry which obtains the respiratory system resistance, Rrs and reactance, Xrs but little evaluation has been done to compare this to spirometry. This thesis compares the sensitivity and repeatability of oscillometry to spirometry during reversibility and develops a ‘signal to noise’ measure assessed in children with asthma.