Activity: Comparison of Results between Subjects.
After successfully collecting data in the previous week, I continued this week to do comparisons and analyses of the results acquired from the subjects. All of their respiration rates have been presented on a line graph, as seen in the figure below, to assist me in analyzing and comparing the results.
All of subjects are below 25 years old, female and mostly all in good health conditions. For adults in a state of rest their respiratory rate should be in between 12 until 20 beats per minute. So, basically, the respiratory activity of PUI cannot be measured during this time due to risk if the PUI are confirmed with COVID-19 positive. However, normal people’s respiratory rate has been measured as a reference so that comparison between healthy people and PUI who might develop early symptoms of COVID-19 can be done clearly. That is the greatest way to distinguish between normal and abnormal PUI breathing rates.
Referring to the line graph also, shown that at 8:00 am in the morning and 12:00 am during midnight, the measured breathing rate is a bit lower compared to the others because at that time most people at rest. However, the breathing rate will be higher when the subjects do exercises, have a fever or are under stress. What can be observed from the data is that the respiration rate from subject 2 is higher than the others. Actually, subject 2 has a problem that her breath was short due to a few years ago she had undergone surgery to remove parts of her lungs as a result of her cancer cells spreading to the lungs. And she is also one of the bone cancer fighters. After the surgery, her doctor instructed her to do a breathing exercise to train her lungs to breathe as usual. While results for other subjects, everything is normal and within an acceptable range.
Based on a few journals, the most common respiratory rate for PUI is basically over 20 breaths per minute (bpm) or also known as Tachypnea. According to the researchers, patients who suffered from COVID-19 diseases had a 91% mean oxygen saturation and 73% of the patients had a fever of 38 Celsius or 100.4 Fahrenheit. While 25% of the patients presented with cough. Yet only 10% of patients reported suffering from shortness of breath and the mean respiratory rate between them is 23 breaths per minute. However, the result of this E-mask project contributes to the definition of an individual's breathing rate, as well as their relationship to clinical and environmental parameters including medical history, gender, Body Mass Index (BMI), and age.
