TABLE 5.
Distribution of LCI between study sites in preschool children
| Diagnosis | Total | Experienced centres | Unexperienced centres | |
| Control | Number of children | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| LCI, median (range) | 7.3 (6.5–8.3) | 7.2 (6.5–7.8) | 7.5 (7.2–8.3) | |
| LCICV, median (range), % | 2.8 (0.0–10.7) | 4.2 (0.0–10.7) | 2.2 (2.0–7.1) | |
| Investigations with abnormal LCI, n (%) | 1 (7.1) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (25.0) | |
| CF | Number of children | 49 | 33 | 16 |
| LCI, median (range) | 8.2 (6.7–15.5)** | 8.2 (6.7–11.3)** | 8.4 (6.8–15.5) | |
| LCICV, median (range), % | 4.2 (0.3–17.1) | 4.0 (0.3–8.9) | 4.2 (0.7–17.1) | |
| Investigations with abnormal LCI, n (%) | 23 (46.9)** | 14 (42.2)* | 9 (56.3) | |
| Other lung diseases | Number of children | 12 | 11 | 1 |
| LCI, median (range)+ | 7.9 (6.6–13.9) | 7.4 (6.6–13.9) | 11.1 | |
| LCICV, median (range), %+ | 2.6 (0.6–8.4) | 2.3 (0.6–8.4) | 5.2 | |
| Investigations with abnormal LCI, n (%) | 6 (50.0)** | 5 (45.5) | 1 (100.0) |
Experienced centres are the CF Center at Airway Research Center North, the CF Center at Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover, and the CF Center at Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg. Unexperienced centres are the CF Center at Universities of Giessen and Marburg Lung Center and the CF Center at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. LCI: lung clearance index; CF: cystic fibrosis; CV: coefficient of variation. *: p<0.05 and **: p<0.01 versus control; +: in case of a single investigation, the result of this investigation is reported without range.