Cardiovascular Responses to Progressive Cycle Exercise in Healthy Children and Adults

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare resting, relative submaximal (at the same percentage of maximal oxygen uptake) and maximal cardiovascular responses to progressive cycle exercise in pre-pubertal children and young adults with similar aerobic aptitude. Fourteen healthy children (7 girls and 7 boys) with a mean age of 10.8 yr and 16 healthy young adults (8 women and 8 men) with a mean age of 22.4 yr underwent a progressive cycle test until exhaustion with estimation of stroke volume and cardiac output by Doppler echocardiography. Submaximal responses were evaluated at similar exercise intensities (around 40, 60 and 80 % of maximal oxygen uptake). Mean submaximal and maximal oxygen uptake were not significantly different between the children and the adults. As expected, the adults demonstrated larger absolute values of stroke volume and cardiac output at all levels of intensity but when related to body surface area, the differences disappeared. The relationships between cardiac output and oxygen uptake calculated from comparable submaximal intensities were similar (slopes and intercepts) in the children and the adults. According to these results, it seems that the lower cardiovascular responses to exercise in children may be attributed to their smaller heart size.