There are many measurements available to monitor changes in breathing capacity. One of the simplest measurements used by doctors and patients would be the peak flow meter

• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Shortness of breath
• Chest tightness

The narrowing of air passages is caused by airway inflammation (airways in lungs become red, swollen and narrow). Unfortunately the cause of asthma is not known, but there are factors which play a part in asthma. These include:

• Genetic factors- Inheritance;
•  Environmental factors- Inhaling house dust mites, exposure to tobacco smoke, sensitive to animals, pollens, moulds and dusts;
• Dietary changes- Higher salt intake, a lack of fresh oily fish etc.
• Lack of exercise.

There are few medicines used by asthmatic patients which help them when they are in extreme conditions and also when their vital capacity lower than before. The two main ones are bronchodilator is and inhaler which is blue in colour and is used for reversibility test. A bronchodilator “widens the air passages of the lungs and eases breathing by relaxing bronchial smooth muscle”. The second medicine is prednisolone which is a synthetic steroid and is “used in various compounds as an anti-inflammatory”.

These two medicines are used respectively when the peak flow of a patient is lower than before. Therefore the reversibility testis used first. If this medicine does not breathing capacity to better, the patient will then need to use the steroid challenge medicine.

Method

When taking a peak flow reading I should:

1. Check the pointer is at zero and stand in a comfortable, upright position.
2. Hold the peak flow meter level and keep fingers away from the pointer.
3. Firstly take deep breath and then close lips firmly around the mouth piece. After that blow very hard onto the mouth piece.
4. Look at the point and record the reading.
5. Reset the pointer back to zero. Repeat this method three times and record the highest readings.

Results

My three peak flow results are 500 L/min, 520 L/min and 500 L/min.

I have produced a histogram to show the distribution of the PEF of the whole class for males and females:

Average mean for males: 14/5 = 2.8                Average mean for females: 12/4 = 3

Percentage predicted for my results:

                                  520/585 *100 = 88.9%

Discussion

My experimental procedure produced clear results although recording readings wasn’t very accurate due to the inaccuracy of the meter.

My own PEF results showed that it was lower than my predicted result, this is because I have asthma! But from my calculations measurements, I cannot prove that I have asthmas my percentage predicted result is greater than 85%. Therefore other measurements need to be used to help the detection of asthma.

Comparing the histogram graphs for females and males it is clear that the males lowest peak flow value is greater than the females lowest peak flow value. Also the male distribution is negatively skewed and the female distribution is approximately symmetrical. This indicates in the male distribution that the PEF of most students lie to the right side of the histogram. This means that majority of males in the class are healthy, fit, have large lungs and do not have asthma. The female graph shows that the majority of students are in the range of 350≤Y<450 L/min, this indicates that the female lungs are smaller than males’ lungs and therefore females’ vital capacity is lower.

The average value for males is 2.8 which indicates that the average PEF value lies between 500≤X<550, while the females average value is 3 therefore indicating that the average PEF value lies between 350≤Y<400. This clearly shows that the average PEF value for males is greater than females. This is understandable, since on average males have larger diameter around the chest; also in the class the males are larger in size than females.

Conclusion

In general peak flow meter reading will vary according to age, height, gender and also it varies from person to person, as seen from the results, it is difficult to say exactly what a persons best peak flow should be. I conclude from results that males in my group have greater vital capacity than females. I was also aware that in my group, ages do vary from someone who is 30yrs and another who is 18yrs. This is one of the reasons why the histogram graph has large distribution between both genders.

I believe, from what I was given, that the results I obtained are fairly accurate and it helps professionals to conclude whether a patient has air inflammation or not. Also helps the doctor to give the right treatments to the patient.

Reference

• http://dictionary.reference.com
• http://www.answers.com

---