Conclusion
In conclusion, exhaled breath VOCs of the type alkanes, acids, amine,
imine, triazine and ketone, showed to differentiate between different
rattling severities and recovered infants, and especially between
recovered/mild and moderate/severe rattlers. Accuracy of the
discriminant model based on exhaled breath was higher than the model
based only on parent reported outcome, particularly for moderate and
severe rattling infants. Additionally, combining this relevant clinical
parameters reported by parents with assessment of breath markers showed
the potential to improve the diagnosis.