Ottaviano Giancarlo, Lund Valerie J, Coles Stuart, Staffieri Alberto, Scadding Glenis K
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Rhinology. 2008 Sep;46(3):200-3.
Measurement of Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow (PNIF) seems to be a cheap and easily performed method to assess nasal patency. As demonstrated in a previous work, PNIF is influenced by SEX, AGE and HEIGHT. However there is a large degree of between-patient variability in PNIF levels. The purpose of this analysis is to determine whether the measurement of the pulmonary ventilatory capacity, by mean of Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF), enables more precise determination of PNIF.
Repeated measurements of PNIF and PEF were performed in 112 volunteers. 100 of these fulfilled the study criteria (55 females and 45 males) and all of them were non-smokers, non-asthmatic, without nose and paranasal sinuses problems, with ages ranging from 15 to 71 years. Statistical analysis was undertaken to determine whether a relationship existed between PNIF and age, sex and height, but which also considered PEF. The data from both experiments were analysed together. In both groups there is a clear tendency for PNIF to increase with PEF. As clearly demonstrated in this work the value of PEF is informative in predicting PNIF and that the larger the value of PEF, the larger the value of PNIF.
PNIF is a useful method to study nasal patency in both primary and secondary care to aid diagnosis of nasal disease, but low values of PNIF have to be confirmed by a study of the PEF as PNIF low values may be an expression of low ventilatory activity rather than an expression of nasal obstruction.
测量峰值鼻吸气流量（PNIF）似乎是一种评估鼻通畅性的廉价且易于实施的方法。如先前研究所示，PNIF受性别、年龄和身高的影响。然而，患者之间的PNIF水平存在很大差异。本分析的目的是确定通过峰值呼气流量（PEF）测量肺通气能力是否能更精确地测定PNIF。
对112名志愿者进行了PNIF和PEF的重复测量。其中100名符合研究标准（55名女性和45名男性），他们均不吸烟、无哮喘、无鼻及鼻窦问题，年龄在15至71岁之间。进行统计分析以确定PNIF与年龄、性别和身高之间是否存在关系，同时也考虑了PEF。对两个实验的数据进行了综合分析。在两组中，PNIF均有随PEF增加的明显趋势。如本研究清楚表明的，PEF值对预测PNIF具有参考价值，且PEF值越大，PNIF值越大。
PNIF是在初级和二级护理中研究鼻通畅性以辅助诊断鼻病的有用方法，但PNIF低值必须通过PEF研究来确认，因为PNIF低值可能是通气活动低的表现，而非鼻阻塞的表现。
