Source: Annual Congress 2012 - Exercise capacity: from elite athletes to severe impairment
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

Background: Existing reference values used during clinical exercise testing have been obtained with rather small none randomly sample sizes, lack of women and elderly or poor maximal end-criteria. The aim was to establish reference values during maximal exercise in a representative sample of men and women.
Methods: 904 randomly sampled healthy men and women (20 – 85 yr old) exercised on a treadmill using a modified Balke protocol to exhaustion.
Results: 759 participants met the criteria for an acceptable VO_2max based on RER≥1.10 or BORG≥17. In the age group 20-29, the VO_2max (ml·kg^-1·min^-1) was 40.3 (SD 7.1) and 48.6 (SD 9.6) in women and men, respectively. A linear decline (8 % per decade) was observed after the age of 30 in both genders.

Physiological responses at maximal exercise, mean (SD)

Age (yrs)	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-85
Heart rate (beat/min)	192 (7.7)	187 (8.8)	181 (11.2)	171 (13.0)	164 (13.4)	155 (14.0)
Oxygen pulse (ml/beat)	17.0 (4.2)	17.2 (4.3)	16.2 (4.5)	15.5 (4.1)	14.6 (3.6)	12.1 (3.7)
Minute ventilation (L/min)	119 (28)	118 (30)	106 (31)	96 (27)	88 (23)	68 (21)
Breathing reserve (%)	28 (12)	24 (13)	25 (15)	27 (13)	26 (14)	34 (13)
RER	1.22 (0.09)	1.23 (0.10)	1.21 (0.10)	1.19 (0.11)	1.17 (0.11)	1.13 (0.11)
Sys blood pressure (mmHg)	169 (21)	174 (21)	182 (24)	186 (25)	193 (27)	197 (28)
Dia blood pressure (mmHg)	74 (15)	76 (15)	77 (20)	81 (17)	81 (18)	81 (18)
[blood lactate] (mM)	10.9 (2.6)	11.5 (2.8)	10.3 (2.9)	8.6 (2.8)	7.4 (2.5)	5.9 (2.2)
BORG scale (6-20)	17.9 (1.3)	17.9 (1.2)	17.5 (1.4)	17.5 (1.3)	17.5 (1.2)	17.6 (1.0)

Conclusions: The present study establishes VO_2max and other typical cardiorespiratory variables during maximal exercise and may be used as reference values.

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Citations should be made in the following way:
E. Edvardsen, B.H. Hansen, I.M. Holme, S.M. Dyrstad, S.A. Anderssen (Oslo, Norway). Reference values for cardiorespiratory fitness in a 20 – 85 year old population. Eur Respir J 2012; 40: Suppl. 56, 843

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