Reliability measure of SNIP and R-SNIFF tests in young adult men and women
Respiratory muscles; reproducibility of results; biostatistics; clinical research
Introduction: The nasal inspiratory pressure (SNIP) and nasal expiratory pressure (R-SNIFF) tests are important complementary methods used to assess the ability of respiratory muscles to develop inspiratory and expiratory strength in various clinical contexts. Specifying the degree to which these measures correlate and agree brings confidence in their use. Objective: The study aimed to assess the reliability of the SNIP and R-SNIFF
tests in young adult men and women. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out with healthy volunteers between 18 and 29 years of age. Each volunteer performed 20 SNIP and R-SNIFF tests with an interval of 30 seconds between rest maneuvers. The interface used was an inflatable rim facial mask with a cephalic fixator. For the reliability of the measurements, the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and minimum detectable change (MDC) between the highest measure and the first reproducible maneuver of men and women were used. Results: The sample of this study was composed of 32 subjects, with even distribution in 16 men and 16 women. The ICC and its confidence interval (CI) of the sample for SNIP were 0.994 (0.988-0.997), SEM 1.820 and MDC 5.043 and for R-SNIFF was 0.950 (0.897-0.976), SEM 6.03, and MDC 16.716. The SNIP for men presented CCI 0.992 (0.977-0.997), SEM 2.07 and MDC 5.74, and R-SNIFF 0.877 (0.648-0.957), SEM 7.66 and MDC 21.23. The SNIP for women presented CCI 0.992 (0.977-0.997), EPM = 1.15 and MDC 3.19 and R-SNIFF 0.957 (0.878-0.985), SEM 6.11 and MDC 16.95. Furthermore, 75% of the individuals obtained the highest SNIP measure and the first reproducible one enters the 11th and 20th maneuvers. For R-SNIFF, they are 65.6% and 62.5%, respectively. Conclusion: The results show that SNIP and R-SNIFF showed excellent reliability among all subjects. Reliability among men for R-SNIFF was considered good, and excellent in both tests among women. In addition, women reached peak pressure faster than men during SNIP and R-SNIFF.
Keywords: respiratory muscles; reproducibility of results; biostatistics; clinical research.