Can one single test protocol for provoking exercise-induced bronchoconstriction also be used for assessing aerobic...

Several different exercise protocols are used to assess exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), and to measure peak oxygen uptake (VO(2 peak)) and peak minute ventilation (VE(peak)).

The aim of this study was to evaluate if one single test protocol for assessing EIB can also be used to determine aerobic capacity measured by VO(2 peak) and VE(peak).

In a randomised cross-over design, 40 healthy subjects (female symbol/male symbol = 17/23) aged 14-40 years performed two exercise tests on a treadmill. Twenty subjects (female symbol/male symbol = 7/13) performed the two exercise tests at a treadmill inclination of 10.5%; the remaining 20 subjects (female symbol/male symbol = 10/10) performed at an inclination of 5.3%. A common stepwise protocol with 20 min of warming up was compared to an EIB test protocol of an 8-min treadmill run without warming up, with a workload corresponding to 95% of maximum heart rate during the last 4 min.

VO(2 peak) did not differ significantly between the two test protocols at 10.5% inclination: 63.3 mL/kg min(-1)(59.3, 67.4) [mean (95% confidence intervals)] and 63.9 mL/kg min(-1) (60.0, 68.0), respectively, or at 5.3% inclination: 56.0 mL/kg min(-1) (52.1, 60.0) and 56.1 mL/kg min(-1) (51.9, 60.2), respectively. Also, VE(peak) did not differ between the protocols 158 (144, 173) vs 161 L/min (145, 176) at 10.5% inclination and 123 (114, 132) vs 127 L/min (116, 138) at 5.3% inclination, with the EIB protocol and the stepwise protocol, respectively.

VO(2 peak) and VE(peak) did not differ between the two test protocols, and one single standardised EIB test may thus be used both for both provoking EIB and assessing VO(2 peak).