Assessment of an alternative calibration technique to record breathing pattern and its variability with respiratory inductive plethysmography

Recent literature has raised doubts on the existing calibration methods for respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP) which can lead to erroneous estimation of tidal volume. This study sought to validate an alternative calibration method to record tidal volume and tidal volume variability during rest and exercise by comparing the measurements obtained from a RIP device against a pneumotachograph (PT) for breath-by-breath analysis. 11 healthy individuals were recruited. Tidal volume and variability were simultaneously recorded during 30 min of rest and 20 min of exercises. Pearson correlation coefficients for group mean tidal volume between PT and RIP were 0.8 during rest and exercises. No statistical significant difference was observed in tidal volume variability between devices during rest and exercises. This study provides support for an alternative calibration method, which addresses existing limitations. The simplicity of equipment set up process and no need to perform subject cooperated calibration procedure will improve the respiratory monitoring process.