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Conducting Maximal and Submaximal Endurance Exercise Testing to Measure Physiological and Biological Responses to Acute Exercise in Humans
Published on: October 17, 2018
Abnormal Exercise Responses in Survivors of Acute Lung Injury During Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing: AN
Jennifer Mackney1, Meg Harrold, Sue Jenkins
1School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia (Ms Mackney and Drs Harrold, Jenkins, and Hill); School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia (Ms Mackney); Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, Australia (Ms Mackney); Physiotherapy Department, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Australia (Dr Jenkins); Institute for Respiratory Health, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Australia (Drs Jenkins and Hill); and Department of Intensive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, Australia (Mr Havill).
Purpose:
This study compared exercise responses in individuals who had recently survived an admission to the intensive care unit for acute lung injury (ALI) with healthy controls.
Methods:
Ten patients with ALI were recruited at 2 Australian hospitals. Six weeks after hospital discharge, participants completed lung function measures and a laboratory-based cardiopulmonary exercise test. Identical measures were collected in 21 healthy participants of similar age and gender distribution.
Results:
Compared with the healthy participants, the ALI participants were similar in age (51 ± 14 vs 50 ± 16 yr), with a lower peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2) (median [interquartile range], 31.80 [26.60-41.73] vs 17.80 [14.85-20.85] mL/kg/min; P < .01) and higher ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide ((Equation is included in full-text article.)E/(Equation is included in full-text article.)CO2) at anaerobic threshold (mean ± SD, 25.7 ± 2.5 vs 35.2 ± 4.1; P < .01). Analysis of individual ALI participant responses showed that 8 participants had a decreased peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2 and anaerobic threshold. All ALI participants were limited by leg fatigue. Abnormalities of pulmonary gas exchange were present in 7 participants. Evidence of cardiac ischemia was present in 2 participants.
Conclusions:
Compared with healthy controls, ALI participants had reduced exercise capacity, mainly due to profound deconditioning. Exercise training to optimize aerobic capacity would appear to be a rehabilitation priority in this population.
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