MMEF or FEV1 in estimating bronchial obstruction in asthmatic children.

In this study the maximal mid-expiratory flow (MMEF) was compared with forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) by a spirometric investigation of healthy children and children with slight bronchial obstruction. We found that the reproducibility of MMEF was good in both healthy and asthmatic children and that both methods had the same ability to detect abnormality before inhalation of a beta 2-receptor agonist. After such an inhalation the discriminatory power was greater for FEV1 than for MMEF and we therefore prefer FEV1 in estimating bronchial obstruction in children.