Background Current recommendations for manual PPV in the delivery room allow a VR range of 40–60 ventilations/min. However, not enough studies have explored the effects of VR on resuscitation.

Objective To evaluate the effect of different VR targets on other ventilatory variables during manual PPV.

Methods 20 physicians manually ventilated an intubated neonatal manikin with both a self-inflating bag (SIB) without a PEEP valve and a T-piece resuscitator (TP). Peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) target was 25 cmH₂O, PEEP was set to 5 on the TP and flow was kept at 8 l/min. VR (40, 60 and 80 vent/min) was paced by a metronome. Both, VR targets and PPV device sequences, were randomly assigned. Variables were compared by one-way repeated measures ANOVA.

Results Participants performed 9450 ventilations in 6 series of 90 seconds. For both devices there were no significant modifications in PIP and inspiratory time (T_i)between VR targets.

Conclusions Higher VR increased I/E ratio and provided higher MAP despite similar PIP. Further studies are needed to evaluate if targeting VR can influence the response to PPV in delivery room.