Whistle mouth pressure as test of expiratory muscle strength

A Chetta, M L Harris, R A Lyall, G F Rafferty, M I Polkey, D Olivieri, J Moxham

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26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Expiratory muscle strength is a determinant of cough function. Mouth pressures during a maximal static expiratory effort (PE,max) are dependent on patient motivation and technique and low values are therefore difficult to interpret. This study hypothesized that a short, sharp and maximal expiration through a narrow aperture, a "whistle", might provide a complementary test of expiratory muscle strength. To obtain a maximal whistle, subjects (27 healthy volunteers and 10 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) were asked to perform a short, sharp blow as hard as possible, from total lung capacity, through a reversed paediatric inhaler whistle, connected to a flange-type mouthpiece. In both healthy subjects and patients, whistle mouth pressure (Pmo,W) was closely related to the pressure measured in the oesophagus and stomach during the same manoeuvre. In healthy subjects, Pmo,W and PE,max correlated with wide limits of agreement, although Pmo,W values were significantly higher than PE,max (131+/-31 cmH(2)O versus 101+/-27 cmH(2)O, p
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)688 - 695
Number of pages8
JournalEuropean Respiratory Journal
Volume17
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2001

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