Chest
Volume 89, Issue 5, May 1986, Pages 717-722
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Clinical Investigations
Breathing Patterns in Infants Utilizing Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.89.5.717Get rights and content

Respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP) is a method that can be used to assess breathing patterns in infants without an airway connection. Ribcage and abdomen transducers are used which require gain factor calculation for calibration. We employed a single position graphic (SPG) calibration technique for gain factor calculation in RIP to obtain breathing pattern data for 70 infants in the quietly awake state. The SPG technique utilizes selection of two breaths from a 20s run of breaths with different ribcage/pneumotachograph (RC/PNT) and abdomen/pneumotachograph (AB/PNT) ratios for the gain factor calculation. Validation of gain factors was performed by comparing volumes obtained simultaneously by RIP and PNT. In 46 of the infants, maintenance of gain factor accuracy was confirmed following position reversal. Revalidation after position change could not be accomplished in 24 infants who were aroused into an agitated state. Breathing patterns were collected by RIP alone on the 46 infants who remained accurately calibrated in the supine and prone positions. No significant correlations were found between breathing pattern data and anthropometric characteristics. When the infants were repositioned, no consistent pattern of change could be identified. This study suggests that the SPG technique provides time-efficient and accurate calibration of RIP in the newborn infant. Furthermore, accuracy is maintained through position change if the infant remains in the same behavioral state. Breathing pattern data presented is representative of normative values in the quietly awake state for our study population.

Section snippets

Subjects

Calibration procedures were performed using a computerized RIP on 70 nonsedated, quietly awake newborn human infants. Fortynine infants were delivered vaginally and 21 by cesarean section.

Gestational age ranged between 34 and 42 weeks (39.3 ± 1.6); postnatal age ranged between 6 and 90 hours (20.6 ± 11.8). Weight and length ranged between 2.1 and 4.8 kg (3.24 ± 0.55) and 45 and 55 cm (49.8 ± 2.2) respectively. The quietly awake state was determined by behavioral criteria.6 Fifty-one infants

Calibration

Seventy infants were calibrated: 19 initially in the supine position and 51 in the prone position. RC and AB gain factors ranged between 0.36 and 2.09 (0.78 ± 0.35) and 0.32 and 1.46 (0.74 ± 0.20) respectively. The difference in the abdominal signal amplitude change between the two selected breaths used to calculate gain factors ranged from 0 to 100 percent (15.8 ± 21.0). The difference in amplitude for the corresponding ribcage movement ranged from 0 to 900 percent (48.4 ± 113.9). Volume

Discussion

During the study period, we observed that infants were quiet, making only occasional motor movements. Their eyes were open and scanning movements were present. The predominant state of behavior during the study period was most compatible with newborn infant behavioral stages 3 and 4 described by Prechtl.6 Thirty to 60 minutes postprandial was the best time for study because infants were quietly awake. Breath-by-breath visualization of RC, AB, and PNT wave forms on the video monitor allowed

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We wish to thank Dr. Don Hill, Medical Director, for his guidance, and the nursing staff of the UAMS Nursery for their cooperation and assistance.

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    Not all studies discussed body position with respect to RR studies. Additionally, few studies have reported normal LBI values in pediatric and adolescent populations [18,22,28,31,38], limiting the significance of the normal LBI regression analysis provided herein. In those studies that reported body position, some studies were conducted in the sitting position, whereas others reported standing, supine, or prone positions; however, these studies were specifically designed to investigate the physiological effect of posture on thoracoabdominal motion (TAM) at a specific age, not the determination of normative reference values (for our review, we selected only the sitting and supine data).

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    An alternative completely non-invasive approach for estimating tidal volume and respiratory rate uses the measurement of thoracic and abdominal excursions following volume changes of the lungs during spontaneous and mechanical ventilation. Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography (RIP) is based on this principle and is an established method to monitor respiration in infants (Warren & Alderson 1986) but it is also used in standing horses (Amory et al. 1994; Miller et al. 2000; Hoffman et al. 2001, 2007). The RIP technique is based on measurement of changes of a cross-sectional area.

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Manuscript received August 24; revision accepted November 27

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