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The lung clearance index (LCI) has strong intra-test repeatability; however, the inter-test reproducibility of the LCI is poorly defined.

The aim of the present study was to define a physiologically meaningful change in LCI in preschool children, which discriminates changes associated with disease progression from biological variability.

Repeated LCI measurements from a longitudinal cohort study of children with cystic fibrosis and age-matched controls were collected to define the inter-visit reproducibility of the LCI. Absolute change, the coefficient of variation, Bland–Altman limits of agreement, the coefficient of repeatability, intra-class correlation coefficient, and percentage changes were calculated.

LCI measurements (n=505) from 71 healthy and 77 cystic fibrosis participants (aged 2.6–6 years) were analysed. LCI variability was proportional to its magnitude, such that reproducibility defined by absolute changes is …