Differences in cardiorespiratory responses of young and senior male endurance athletes to maximal graded exercise test.

M Michalis,K.J Finn,M Szántó,S Gabnai,R Podstawski,A Cziráki,Z Alföldi,F Ihász,Á Koller

doi:10.1556/2060.2020.00032

Abstract

Within recent years the popularity of sportive activities amongst older people, particularly competitive activities within certain age groups has increased. The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in the cardiorespiratory output at anaerobic threshold and at maximal power, output during an incremental exercise, among senior and young athletes. Ten elderly male subjects [mean (SD) age: 68.45 ± 9.32 years] and eight young male subjects [mean (SD) age: 25.87 ± 5.87 years] performed an incremental exercise test on a treadmill ergometer. No significant differences in body size were evident; however, the differences between the groups for peak power (451.62 ± 49 vs. 172.4 ± 32.2 W), aerobic capacity (57.97 ± 7.5 vs. 40.36 ± 8.6 mL kg-1 min-1), maximal heart rate (190.87 ± 9.2 vs. 158.5 ± 9.1 beats min-1), peak blood lactate (11 ± 1.7 vs. 7.3 ± 1.4 mmol L-1), and % VO2max at ventilatory thresholds (93.18 ± 4.3 vs. 79.29 ± 9.9%) were significantly lower in the senior athletes. The power output at anaerobic threshold was also higher (392 ± 48 vs. 151 ± 23 W) in the young athletes, explaining the significant difference in terms of performance between these groups. We have observed an evident deterioration in some of the cardiovascular parameters; however, the submaximal exercise economy seems to be preserved with aging. Exercise economy (i.e. metabolic cost of sustained submaximal exercise) was not different considerably with age in endurance-trained adults.

Highlights

Demographics in the world population is undergoing a continuous change; the current rate of people over the age of 65 years at 6.9% is expected to rise up to 19.3% by the year 2050
Similar results were obtained with regard to Running Economy (RE), maximal exercise peak power output (PPO), and relative power (RPPO), which were significantly higher in young men than in elderly men
It is important to note, that on the same maximum exercise level there was no significant difference between the average oxygen pulses (O2P), carbon dioxide outputs (VCO2) and tidal volumes (Vt) of the two groups

Summary

Introduction

Demographics in the world population is undergoing a continuous change; the current rate of people over the age of 65 years at 6.9% is expected to rise up to 19.3% by the year 2050 This is a compelling change within this adult sub-demographic, because there can be a lot of older adults found to possess highly exclusive physiological attributes, a phenotype termed as “exceptionally successful aging” [1]. At some point PFC declines with advancing age even in healthy adults, resulting in a reduced capacity to perform certain physical work/tasks This can eventually result in increased incidence of functional disability, increased use of health care services, loss of independence, and reduced quality of life [2,3]. To ensure we recognize successful aging, we need to understand the changes due to aging alone rather than health-related declines in PFC due to disease, disability, or physical inactivity

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