Clinical Application of Pulmonary Function Tests in Preschool Children

Pulmonary function tests are routinely used in the assessment of respiratory system in older children and adults. They have not made their way into wide clinical practice in preschool children and infants, mainly due to poor cooperation in this age group. This review discusses the use of various pulmonary function tests in preschool children in clinical setting. Issues relevant for clinical practice comprising but not limited to expressing results, within-occasion repeatability and between occasion reproducibility of various tests as well as choosing reference data are described. This paper also examines the most frequent respiratory disorders in preschool children and potential impact of pulmonary function tests results on clinical management in these patients.