ROLE OF RESPIRATORY RATE IN THE TOLERABILITY OF PERSONAL RESPIRATORY PROTECTION EQUIPMENT

The factor limiting the tolerance of personal respiratory protection equipment should be considered the frequency of respiratory movements, which reflexively changes when additional respiratory resistance occurs. Unfortunately, there is almost no information in the available literature about changes in the tolerability of personal respiratory protection equipment at different rates of respiratory movements. The purpose of this work was to study the tolerability of personal respiratory protection equipment when changing the frequency of respiratory movements.

The study was conducted on practically healthy persons of both sexes (78 people), aged from 20 to 36 years. To simulate the conditions for the use of personal respiratory protection equipment, inspiratory resistive respiratory loads of 20% of the maximum intraoral pressure during the Mueller test were used. The tolerance of personal respiratory protection equipment was assessed using the Borg visual analogue of dyspnea scale, which reflected the level of subjective discomfort that occurs when additional respiratory resistance is turned on. During the action of additional respiratory resistance, the persons were asked to hold the frequency of respiratory movements, which was set using a special setting.

An increase in the rate of respiratory movements against the background of additional respiratory resistance leads to a significant deterioration in the objective and subjective indicators of the functional state of the persons; replacing the inhaled air with an oxygen-rich respiratory mixture with carbon dioxide absorption did not lead to a significant improvement in the functional state. A moderate decrease (up to 70% of the initial frequency of respiratory movements) in the rate of respiration leads to an improvement in the indicators of adaptive activity in conditions of additional respiratory resistance. A significant decrease (up to 35% of the initial frequency of respiratory movements) in the rate of respiration under conditions of additional respiratory resistance leads to a deterioration of objective and subjective indicators of the functional state of the subjects.

An increase in peak respiratory flow rates caused by an increase in the rate of respiration, in accordance with the well – known Rohrer equation, significantly increases inelastic resistance and, as a result, respiratory needs. These needs can be met at some time due to a significant increase in the work of the respiratory muscles, but due to fatigue of the latter, psychoemotional tension increases quite quickly and the use of personal respiratory protection equipment is abandoned.