Original Research Article
Year: 2020 | Month: November | Volume: 10 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 145-156
Respiratory Muscle Strength in Children in Age Group 7-12 Years: A Cross-Sectional Observational Pilot Study
Prajakta Patil1, Ankita Deodhar2, Sumit Jadhav3
1Professor, Department of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiotherapy,
Smt. Kashibai Navale College of Physiotherapy, Pune, India.
2Masters in Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Physiotherapy, Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H. N. Reliance Hospital and Research Centre, Prarthna Samaj, Girgaon, Mumbai-400004, India.
3PG student, Department of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiotherapy, SKNCOPT, Pune, India.
Corresponding Author: Prajakta Patil
ABSTRACT
Background: Assessment of respiratory muscles is important for early diagnosis of respiratory weakness and to prevent respiratory disorders as well as to quantify severity and prognosis of respiratory diseases.
Objectives: To obtain normal values for Maximal Inspiratory pressures (MIP) and Maximal Expiratory pressures (MEP) as well as to compare these values between boys and girls and to correlate it with age and BMI in children in age group 7-12 years.
Methods: In this cross sectional observational study, demographic and anthropometric data were assessed as well as respiratory muscle strength (MIP and MEP) was assessed in a total of 191children (95 boys and 96 girls; mean age 9.77+/-1.69).
Results: Boys had higher MIP and MEP values. There was a moderate correlation between MIP and age and height as well as MEP and age and height. Other variables were not significantly correlated.
Conclusion: This study provides reference values for assessing respiratory muscle strength. The values obtained showed that age and height have influence on them. Thus MIP and MEP can be used as a means of diagnosis, prognosis as well as monitoring the progress of the patients undergoing respiratory muscle training in the presence of respiratory muscle weakness.
Key words: maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, respiratory muscle strength, children.