Breathing rate

Breathing rate can be measured as volume of breaths per day. Breathing rate is used in risk assessment of inhaled toxic compounds. US EPA have provided a report where they have calculated an individual's ventilation rate directly from their oxygen consumption rate. This revised approach will be used to update the ventilation rate information in the Exposure Factors Handbook, which serve as a resources for exposure assessors for calculating inhalation and other exposures.

Unit

m3/day or m3/s

Result

Table 1. Descriptive statistics (mean values) for daily average ventilation rate (m3/day) in females and males, by age category, Unadjusted for Body Weight; m3/day)[1].

	Females	Males
Birth to <1 year	8.53	8.76
1 year	13.31	13.49
2 years	12.74	13.23
3 to <6 years	12.16	12.65
6 to <11 years	12.41	13.42
11 to <16 years	13.44	15.32
16 to <21 years	13.59	17.22
21 to <31 years	14.57	18.82
31 to <41 years	14.98	20.29
41 to <51 years	16.2	20.93
51 to <61 years	16.18	20.91
61 to <71 years	12.99	17.94
71 to <81 years	12.04	16.35
81 years and older	11.14	15.15

Table 2. Breathing rates based on Cerna et al 1998.

Age group	Inhalation volume (m3/day)
Adult	20
Children (8-10y)	10
Children (1y)	3.8
New born	0.8

References

• Cerna et al 1998
• Kalaiarasan et al 2009
• U.S. EPA. Metabolically Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (Final Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-06/129F, 2009.
• Arcus-Arth, Amy; Blaisdell, Robert J: Risk Analysis, Volume 27, Number 1, February 2007 , pp. 97-110(14)[2]
• [3]

See also

• Respiratory rate as number of breaths a living being [4].