Lung Function Assessment in Pediatric Asthma: Selecting the Optimal Tests for Clinical and Research Applications

• Published in: Children (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 8; p. 1073
• Main Authors: Pellegrino, Giulia Michela, Gobbi, Alessandro, Fantini, Marco, Pellegrino, Riccardo, Sferrazza Papa, Giuseppe Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15.08.2025; MDPI
• Subjects: Airway management; Asthma; Asthma in children; bronchodilator and bronchoconstrictor challenges; Bronchodilators; Cooperation; Diagnosis; Dyspnea; forced oscillation technique; interrupter technique; Laboratories; Lung diseases; Lungs; Nitrogen; Patient compliance; Pediatrics; Pulmonary function tests; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory system; Review; Spirometry; topographical and temporal ventilation heterogeneities; vocal cord dysfunction; Italy; vocal cord dysfunction; spirometry; interrupter technique; dyspnea; forced oscillation technique; topographical and temporal ventilation heterogeneities; bronchodilator and bronchoconstrictor challenges
• ISSN: 2227-9067; 2227-9067
• DOI: 10.3390/children12081073

Recent documents from leading international pediatric respiratory societies have strongly encouraged the use of lung function tests in clinical practice and research. These tests can explore ventilatory function across its volumetric and temporal domains, providing information on the intrapulmonary location and extent of damage caused by respiratory diseases. The choice of which test to use in each case to investigate presenting respiratory symptoms depends on the patient’s symptoms and the diagnostic–therapeutic phase being addresse d. In the most common and representative chronic pediatric condition—bronchial asthma—lung function tests play an especially important role due to the disease’s complexity and the fluctuating nature of airway obstruction. This review aims to examine the potential of various lung function tests in asthma, helping clinicians and researchers to optimize diagnosis and follow-up with the most appropriate methodology. While spirometry and flow resistance measurements using the interrupter technique have historically been the cornerstones of diagnosis and clinical monitoring in childhood asthma, the advent of new technologies—such as multiple breath nitrogen washout (MBNW) and the forced oscillation technique (FOT)—is opening up the door to a more nuanced view of the disease. These tools allow for an evaluation of asthma as a structurally complex and topographically and temporally disorganized condition. FOT, in particular, facilitates measurement acceptability in less cooperative subjects, both in respiratory physiology labs and even at the patient’s home.