Work capacity in women in relation to age as judged from a maximal work performance test

Work performance test could be carried out on a population sample of women aged 38-60 years without complications. The work capacity decreased with increasing age and at the same time the maximal heart rate during work decreased with increasing age. Blood pressure increased with age and these differences between the various ages were about the same as at rest. Respiratory frequency and perceived exertion on maximal work were similar in the ages studied. ECG changes were common and were found to be as common as in men who had been studied with the same technique and in the same ages. As ECG changes were very common and as myocardial infraction is very seldom in women of these ages, ECG changes during and after work did not seem to be a good discriminator of women subjected to myocardial infraction.