The reliability of inspiratory resistive load magnitude and detection testing

Abstract Objectives To assess the test-retest reliability of inspiratory load detection and load magnitude perception tests in healthy volunteers. Design Cohort of convenience. Setting Respiratory physiology laboratory. Participants Twenty healthy adults. Interventions On two separate occasions participants performed tests of inspiratory loading. Participants breathed through custom made resistive tubing and were asked to indicate when they detected a different resistance during inspiration. In a second test participants rated the magnitude of presented inspiratory loads using the modified Borg score. Main Outcome Measures Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC2,1) values for repeated tests of inspiratory load detection threshold and load magnitude rating. Results ICC2,1 values ranged from 0.657–0.786 for load detection testing and 0.739 to 0.969 for rating of load magnitude. Conclusions The tests are simple and reliable measures of inspiratory load detection and magnitude rating. They can be used in future research to determine the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the effort of breathing in health and disease.