Seifnaraghi N, de Gelidi S, Frerichs I, Kallio M, Sorantin E, Tizzard A, Demosthenous A, Bayford RH. Cross-sectional chest circumference and shape development in infants.
BMC Res Notes 2022;
15:206. [PMID:
35705999 PMCID:
PMC9202117 DOI:
10.1186/s13104-022-06087-z]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the development of the thoracic cross-section at the nipple line level during the early stages of life. Unlike the descriptive awareness regarding chest development course, there exist no quantitative references concerning shape, circumference and possible dependencies to age, gender or body weight. The proposed mathematical relations are expected to help create guidelines for more realistic modelling and potential detection of abnormalities. One potential application is lung electrical impedance tomography (EIT) monitoring where accurate chest models are crucial in both extracting reliable parameters for regional ventilation function and design of EIT belts. Despite their importance, such reference data is not readily available for the younger age range due to insufficient data amid the regulations of neonatal imaging.
RESULTS
Chest circumference shows the highest correlation to body weight following the relation [Formula: see text] where x is the body weight in grams and f(x) is the chest circumference in cm at the nipple line level. No statistically significant difference in chest circumference between genders was detected. However, the shape indicated signs of both age and gender dependencies with on average boys developing a more rectangular shape than girls from the age of 1 years and 9 months.
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