[Pulmonary function in the full-term newborn infant without respiratory problems]

Abstract

Pulmonary function was measured by computerized pneumotacography in 13 term newborn infants without respiratory problems. Mean (+/- SD) for birth weight, gestation and postnatal age were 3149 +/- 366 g, 39.1 +/- 0.9 weeks, and 4.7 +/- 2.4 days. Esophageal balloon, differential transducer and nasal progs were used. The following parameters were measured in each respiration by the mean squears method: Dynamic compliance (Cdyn), total respiratory resistance (RRt) and work (WRt), respiratory time constant (KTt), rate (RR) and maximal inspiratory and respiratory flows (PIF, PEF). Reproductiveness was found to be good, as the differences between two determinations were not significant (p less than 0.05). The mean differences but for Cdyn (11.9%) were of less than 5%. The mean (+/- SD) and the 3 and 97 percentiles for each parameter studied were: RR 43.8 +/- 7.6 (32.6-61.2) rpm, Tv 6.6 +/- 0.7 (5.8-7.9) ml/kg, Vmin 285 +/- 55.6 (201-405) ml/min, Cdin/kg 1.64 +/- 0.31 (1.13-2.17) ml/cm/kg, RPt 65.2 +/- 21.6 (28.4 +/- 111.4) cm/L/seg, TRt 30.6 +/- 13.7 (15.3-58.8) g/cm/kg, PIF 2.9 +/- 0.6 (1.8 +/- 4.4) L/min y PEF 2.4 +/- 0.7 (1.2-4) L/min.