Specifications for equipment used for infant pulmonary function testing

The aim of this position paper is to define minimal performance criteria fo r the separate items comprising equipment used to measure respiratory funct ion in infants together,vith overall performance criteria for the assembled pieces of such equipment. These guidelines cover numerous aspects including: 1) safety, 2) documentat ion and maintenance of equipment, 3) physical characteristics of mechanical parts and signal transducers, and 4) data acquisition, Further, validation procedures for individual components as well as for the integrated equipme nt are recommended, Adherence to these guidelines should ensure that infant lung function measu rements can be performed with an acceptable degree of safety, precision and reproducibility. They will also facilitate multicentre collection of data and performance of clinical investigations. Manufacturers of infant respiratory function equipment should make every ef fort to comply with these guidelines, which represent the current standards of paediatric health professionals in this field.