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Nasal resistance in school children and students.

1989; Japanese Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and neck surgery; Volume: 92; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3950/jibiinkoka.92.194

1883-0854

Yasuhiro Momiyama,

Nasal Surgery and Airway Studies

In terms of the nozzle active anterior rhinomanometry, nasal resistance was measured in 297 school children and students with no history of nasal and respiratory diseases (151 males and 146 females), aged 6 to 17 years. Nasal resistance was evaluated at rest and after physical exercise.Single master two-step test was employed as physical exercise. Then, the relationships among the nasal resistance, age and the effect of exercise were studied.Subjects were divided into four groups by means of nasal resistance at rest and their response to the physical exercise : the age of 6 to 8, 9 to 11, 12 to 14 and 15 to 17 years.1) Nasal resistance at restFrom 6 to 8 years, nasal resistance was very high. This high value may be due to the large anatomical size of their adenoid. From 9 to 11 years, the older the age was, the smaller the nasal resistance became. The difference between mean values of the nasal resistance of 9 and 11 year old children was statistically significant. However, from 12 to 14 years, nasal resistance once increased and then decreased again during this particular period. This chronological change of resistance may be contributed to the discrepancy of the anatomical maturation of the nasal structure. That is, the nasal turbinates seems to develop prior to the growth of the nasal frame work. Therefore nasal air passage may relatively be narrow until the nasal frame work is well developed. This transient increment of nasal resistance was statistically significant. Thereafter, from 15 to 17 years, nasal resistance was continuously decreased and approaching to the adult value.2) Effect of physical exerciseFrom 10 to 14 years, nasal resistance was significantly decreased after physical exercise.From 6 to 7 and 15 to 17 years, changes after exercise were unpredictable. This may be attributed to the prematurity of the autonomic nervous system in 6 to 7 years and the instability of autonomic control in 15 to 17 years. These results suggest that the autonomic nervous system gives much influence to the regulation of the nasal resistance.