The participants were separated into 7 weight categories

according to body weight: 10 kg and lower (n = 84), 10 to

20 kg (n = 116), 20 to 30 kg (n = 58), 30 to 40 kg (n = 46),

40 to 50 kg (n = 47), 50 to 60 kg (n = 29), and 60 to 65 kg

(n = 20). Figure 2 shows the percentile curves of right

diaphragmatic excursion plotted against body weight.

Stepwise regression analysis for right diaphragmatic excursion

showed that body weight was the only dependent predictor

of right diaphragmatic excursion (R = 0.731; R2 = 0.535).

Therefore, the participants were separated into the 7 body

weight categories during assessment of the percentiles.

Table 2. Sonographic Data of the Diaphragm in the Studied Populations

To evaluate the reproducibility of measuring diaphrag-

matic excursion and thickness using sonography, interob-

server and intraobserver variability were assessed. The results

of these measurements are shown in Table 7 and Figures

3 and 4. The Bland-Altman test was used to assess inter-

observer and intraobserver reproducibility. For interob-

server variability, the Bland-Altman test showed low bias

values (0.08 for right diaphragmatic excursion, 0.14 for left

diaphragmatic excursion, –0.07 for right diaphragmatic

thickness, and –0.09 for left diaphragmatic thickness) and

acceptable limits of agreement (95% confidence limits