OBJECTIVE
To develop and try out a convenient and accessible for use technology for testing the pulmonary function in children and adults, including in patients with chronic bronchopulmonary pathology.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The article presents the results of Lazarev sound-breathing test (LST) in different cohorts of children and adults, including pregnant women and children suffering from chronic bronchopulmonary diseases, in particular cystic fibrosis.
RESULTS
A direct dependence of the LST indicators’ level from the age of children and adolescents has been obtained. An orientational table of age-related changes in the LST indicators in children aged 3—7 years was developed. It has been proven that LST can be used to register the improvement of pulmonary ventilation function in children as a result of specially organized health activities (respiratory gymnastics with elements of respiratory music therapy, etc.). The increase of LST has been obtained with regular exercises on «Sonatal» method (in some cases, the test was increased from 100 to 200%). A direct correlation of LST with hardware diagnostic methods (spirography, peakflowmetry) has been established. The closest links have been established between the LST indicator and vital capacity (VC), peak expiratory flow (PEF), maximum expiratory flow (MEF) at 50% of exhalation (MEF50). In children with low LST values, the correlation coefficient of this indicator with PEF amounted to 0.90, with MEF50 —0.86, with MEF75 — 0.76. The correlation of LST with VC and forced VC was r=0.52 and r=0.45, respectively. Children suffering from cystic fibrosis have shown a decrease of indicators with regard to the indicators of healthy children of the same age. The mean LST values for students aged 17—25 years roughly corresponded to 16-year-old adolescents, indicating that the test values stabilize with the end of body’s growth (16—18 years).
CONCLUSION
It has been shown that LST is an accessible and reliable marker for assessing the state of pulmonary ventilation function in healthy and sick children (pre-school and school age) and some cohorts of adults (students, pregnant women), including in health-resort treatment settings.
