Accuracy of shorter respiratory rate measurement times in the pediatric population

Abstract

Background As one of the vital signs, the respiratory rate is an important index of general health in an initial examination. The duration of respiratory rate measurements is known to influence the results in adults. We examined the difference in respiratory rate measurements between two measurement durations in a pediatric population. Methods The prospective, cross‐sectional study was conducted from November 2017 through March 2018 at Tokyo Metropolitan Children’s Medical Center and analyzed differences in the respiratory rate in a 1 min group and 30 s group using the Bland–Altman plot. Results Ninety‐five patients were enrolled. The median age was 0.99 years, and 50 patients were male. The correlation between the results of the 30 s and 1 min measurement durations was good (r2 = 0.970, P < 0.001; Spearman’s rank correlation). The mean difference between the 30 s and 1 min measurement results was 0.86 (95% confidence interval: 0.27–1.45). Conclusions The shorter measurement duration may result in overestimation of the respiratory rate, especially in young children or children with tachypnea. Nonetheless, the shorter measurement times correlated well with the 1 min measurement, and the difference was less than one per minute compared with the 1 min measurement. Thus, this method may be able to detect life‐threatening conditions earlier than longer measurement times.

Development of a stand‐alone portable respiratory rate monitor using a Doppler radar

“…Respiratory rate (RR), an important indicator for early recognition of symptoms of pneumonia, cardiac failures, and other disorders, is known to predict clinical deterioration more accurately than other vital signs 1–3 . Particularly, RR is reported to predict the severity of pneumonia in children 4 . RR monitors based on various principles have been approved as medical devices.…”

“…[1][2][3] Particularly, RR is reported to predict the severity of pneumonia in children. 4 RR monitors based on various principles have been approved as medical devices. These approved devices include capnometers that use infrared radiation to measure the pressure of carbon dioxide in air inspired and expired through a tracheal tube, 1 polysomnographs in which a breathing band is attached to the thorax and abdomen, and variation of the thoracoabdominal shape during breathing is converted to electrical signals using piezoelectric effect, 5 and bedside monitors in which electrodes are placed in the lung field, and alternating current is passed to measure variation of internal resistance during breathing (impedance method).…”