Abstract
To determine day-to-day variability in respiratory pattern, we have obtained 188 comparisons of pneumograms performed in two successive 24-hour intervals. The respiratory pattern values calculated were total duration of brief apnea (apnea density), periodic breathing episodes, longest apnea, number of apneas > 11 sec, and number of apneas > 15 sec. For Day 1 apnea density (A6/D%), periodic breathing and longest apnea values of < 0.6%, < 1.5 episodes/100 min and <20 sec, Day 2 values fell outside that range in 10%, 8% and 1% of comparisons, respectively. The theoretical prediction of Day 2 results based on the observed Day 1 values was assessed by calculation of confidence and prediction intervals. We can be 95% confident that a Day 1 A6/D% of 0.5% will be less than 1.2% on Day 2, 1.5 episodes of periodic breathing/100 min on Day 1 will be less than 3.2 on Day 2, and a Day 1 longest apnea of 15 sec will be less than 22 sec on Day 2. These prediction intervals are too wide to be clinically useful. Part of this variability, however, is not random but is related to adaptation, a systematic tendency for the Day 2 value to be less than the Day 1 value. For each parameter, the Day 2 range is lower, slope of the Day 2 vs Day 1 regression line is significantly less than one (p <.01) and the y intercept is significantly greater than zero (p< .01). Knowledge of day-to-day pneumogram variability in general, and of the adaptation phenomenon specifically, should be helpful in interpreting individual pneumogram results and in assessing the clinical usefulness of pneumograms.
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Hunt, C., Brouillette, R., Liu, K. et al. DAY-TO-DAY PNEUMOGRAM VARIABILITY. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 393 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-01803
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-01803