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.