REFERENCE RANGES FOR RESPIRATORY RATE MEASURED BY THERMISTRY (12-84 MONTHS)

Previous studies of respiratory rate in children have had a number of methodological problems. The aim of this study was to construct age sp ecific reference ranges for respiratory rate. Respiratory rate in chil dren attending childcare centres, kindergartens, and schools was measu red using a nasal thermocouple to obtain respiratory waveforms. Refere nce ranges were constructed using data from 293 awake children between 12 and 84 months, and from 123 sleeping children between 12 and 60 mo nths. The mean respiratory rate declined with increasing age and was s ignificantly lower, with lower variability, during sleep than wakefuln ess. Neither the awake nor sleeping reference ranges were significantl y affected by sex, nor by the presence of past respiratory nor current respiratory symptoms.