Use in children

Capnography is useful for children as it does not require active cooperation, only a quiet activity (reading , sitting game etc...).

Recording in a 5 year-old , during a metacholine bronchial challenge :

• initial recording : slight bronchospasm (S2=0.35)
• second trace : marked bronchospasm after metacholine inhalation (S2=0.60)
• last trace : improvement after beta adrenergic therapy (S2=0.40)

Notice :
Frequent tachypnea is the only real limitation to use of capnography in children. Shortened capnogram duration often prevents any indice measurement, except the earliest one "S1", well known for its lack of sensitivity. In practice, it is difficult to achieve reliable recordings at younger than 3 or 4 years old.