Maximal respiratory pressure in healthy Japanese children.
Miki Tagami, Yukako Okuno, Tadamitsu Matsuda and 3 others
PMID 28356644WHAT IT FOUND
Healthy Japanese children showed higher pressures when breathing in and out across age groups, and boys showed higher pressures than girls.
Age, height, and weight were positively related to the pressures.
Key findings
01PImax and PEmax were higher in older age groups in both boys and girls.
02Boys showed higher PImax and PEmax values than girls.
03Maximal respiratory pressures were positively correlated with age, height, and weight.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
It included only healthy children aged 3 to 12, so it does not provide values for children with respiratory or neuromuscular disease. Children were measured at one time point, so age-group differences cannot show change within the same child over time. Physical activity and competitive sports were not measured, although they may relate to respiratory muscle pressures. Height and weight were reported by parents, not measured by the researchers. The sample came from a physical fitness festival, which may not represent all children.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these pressures as universal normal values or diagnostic thresholds. They were measured only in healthy Japanese children at one time point, and the study did not assess disease severity or training outcomes.