Lung function during infancy and preschool age

Educational aims

1. To analyse lung function techniques developed for preschool children and infants.

2. To compare lung function techniques used in adults and children.

3. To discuss the possibility of using equipment from childhood through to adulthood.

Summary Measurements of pulmonary function are among the most important measurements in respiratory medicine, both in clinical and research work. Despite the rapid technological development during recent decades, we still struggle with a major obstacle in understanding the natural history of the lungs and airways; namely our inability to use one method and one piece of equipment from birth through childhood to adulthood.

Thus, various methods measuring, at best, approximations of similar mechanical or physical properties within the lungs and airways will have to be compared at different time-points to the best of our abilities. Recent studies have begun to report extensive work from many research groups addressing the acceptability and reproducibility of spirometry among preschool children.