Abstract
We conducted a reproducibility study of the alternating breath test (ABT) for assessing peripheral chemoreceptor function in infants. The ABT delivers a rapid hypoxic stimulus to the peripheral chemoreceptors with breath-by-breath alternations of the inspired O2 fraction. The reproducibility of the ABT performed on a single occasion has not been extensively studied in infants. Eight unsedated infants (postnatal age, 22± 19 d; weight, 3.2 ± 0.4 kg) were studied in standardized conditions: morning naps, supine position, room temperature 22-24°C, quiet sleep, and face mask attached to a pneumotachograph connected to a two-way electric valve. Respiratory gases were analyzed by mass spectrometer. Two ABTs were performed. Each included a 2-min control run (CR) alternating between air and air, and a 2-min test run (TR) alternating between air and 0.15 O2. After data preprocessing, on average 13 ± 11% of the data were rejected because of sighs, apneas, and cycles with the fraction of inspired oxygen above 0.17. Using the remaining validated breaths, the response to ABT was calculated for the CR, for all breaths in the TR(TRT), and for the first 50 breaths of the TR (TR50). During the ABTs oxygen saturation did not fall below 96%, and heart rate was not affected. Inspired and end-tidal CO2 fractions remained unchanged during the ABTs. Feto2 oscillated in TRs at a lower values than in CRs and differed significantly between breaths of air and hypoxic breaths of TRs. All infants responded to ABT with percentage alternation coefficients of TRs significantly greater than those of CRs for all respiratory variables. The values of the coefficients were not significantly different between both ABT, and between TR50 and TRT. The greatest values of the coefficients were for timing variables compared with flows and volume. We conclude that the ABT is a reproducible test of peripheral chemoreceptor function under standardized conditions.
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Abbreviations
- ABT:
-
alternating breath test
- CR:
-
control run
- TR:
-
test run
- TR50:
-
first 50 validated breaths in test run
- TRT:
-
total number of validated breaths in test run
- VT:
-
tidal volume
- VT/IT:
-
inspiratory flow
- V˙E:
-
minute ventilation
- TI:
-
inspiration time
- TE:
-
expiration time
- Ttot:
-
total duration of respiratory cycle
- f:
-
respiratory frequency
- TI/Ttot:
-
duty cycle
- HR:
-
heart rate
- FI:
-
inspired fraction
- Fet:
-
end tidal fraction
- BBC:
-
between-breath change
- WBC:
-
within-breath change
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Supported by the Pôle Regional Génie Biomédical “Périnatalité,” the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (CRI 96-03) and the Universities of Picardie Jules Verne and Paris VII.
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Bouferrache, B., Krim, G., Marbaix-Li, Q. et al. Reproducibility of the Alternating Breath Test of Fractional Inspired O2 in Infants. Pediatr Res 44, 239–246 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199808000-00017
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199808000-00017
