Assessing respiratory rates and signs of air hunger using the PneumoRator® sensor
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Objectives
To investigate whether the PneumoRator wearable sensor could accurately assess Respiratory Rate (RR) and signs of air hunger (SAH) compared with clinician-observed assessment in adults with and without breathing pattern disorder (BrPD).
Design
A pilot cross-sectional observational study.
Setting
A research laboratory on a university campus.
Participants
Healthy adults aged 18-40, who were not pregnant, no smokers or history of cardiovascular, respiratory or neurological illness. Thirty consented to the study, Twenty-nine had full data for analysis.
Interventions
Participants wore the PneumoRator chest-worn sensor continuously for 10 minutes while seated at rest.
Main outcome measures
Respiratory Rate was compared between PneumoRator-derived measurements and randomised 1-minute observer manual counts. Clinician-observed SAH and BrPD were assessed using the Breathing Pattern Assessment Tool (BPAT). Participants also completed the Nijmegen Questionnaire. PneumoRator signals were analysed to identify large-volume breaths as potential SAH events.
Results
Thirty participants were recruited. Twelve participants met BPAT criteria for BrPD and four met Nijmegen Questionnaire criteria. There was no significant difference between manual and PneumoRator RR measurements (p=0.89). No significant difference was observed between methods for SAH detection (p=0.17). Participants with clinician-observed SAH demonstrated significantly higher PneumoRator signal amplitudes than those without SAH (p=0.035).
Conclusion
The PneumoRator produced RR measurements comparable to clinician assessment and demonstrated potential for identifying signs of air hunger. Findings from this pilot study indicate that the PneumoRator device shows promise as a tool for continuous RR monitoring and as an adjunct to BrPD assessment. Larger clinical validation studies are now warranted.
