Relationship between Pulmonary Function and Exertional Chest Pain in 5-10 Year-old Children

Pulmonary problem is one of the non-cardiac causes of exertional chest pain in children. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare pulmonary function in children with exertional chest pain during rest.

This descriptive analytical cross sectional study was conducted in 200 children aged 10-15 years old in Arak, Iran 2018. The case group (n=100) included children with exertional chest pain and control group (n=100) were healthy children (without exertional chest pain). Respiratory function was assessed using spirometry after complete training and one test session. Data analysis was done in Stata 11.

The mean values for forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), the forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC, and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were 3.98±1.56 and 4.31±2.1 L/s, 4.81±2.16 and 5.2±2.8 L, 0.73±0.13 and 0.75±0.11, and 6.89±1.65 and 7.24±1.59 L/m in case group and healthy group, respectively. The values did not show significant differences between the two groups (P=0.209, P=0.272, P=0.242, and P=0.128, respectively).

According to current study, spirometry evaluation in children with exertional chest pain during rest does not seem to be helpful for diagnosis of exercise-induced bronchospasm.