Abstract
PurposeTo extend currently available sex and age-specific normative values in children and adolescents for the peak work rate (WRpeak) attained at the steep ramp test (SRT) to healthy active young adults.MethodsHealthy male and female participants aged between 19 and 24 years were recruited. After screening and anthropometric measurements, participants performed a SRT on a cycle ergometer (increments of 25 W/10 s), monitoring and recording SRT-WRpeak, heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP) at rest and directly after peak exercise.ResultsFifty-seven participants (31 males and 26 females; median age of 21.3 years) volunteered and were tested. Anthropometrics, resting BP and lung function were all within normal ranges. Ninety-three percent of the participants attained a peak HR (HRpeak) > 80% of predicted (mean HRpeak 87 ± 5% of predicted). No differences were found in resting and peak exercise variables between females and males, except for absolute SRT-WRpeak (350 W [Q1: 306; Q3: 371] and 487 W [Q1: 450; Q3: 517], respectively) and SRT-WRpeak normalized for body mass (relative SRT-WRpeak; 5.4 ± 0.5 and 6.2 ± 0.6 W/kg, respectively). Low-to-moderate correlations (ρ [0.02–0.71]) were observed between SRT-WRpeak and anthropometric variables for females and males separately. Extended reference curves (8–24-year-old subjects) for SRT performance show different trends between male and female subjects when modelled against age, body height, and body mass.ConclusionsThe present study provides sex-, age-, body height-, and body mass-related normative values (presented as reference centiles) for absolute and relative SRT performance throughout childhood and early adulthood.
Highlights
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a procedure involving an incremental, graded exercise test of 8–12 min in duration that provides essential diagnostic, prognostic, and evaluative information in a broad spectrum of diseases (Vanhees et al 2005)
The purpose of this study was to extend the currently available sex- and age-specific normative values and centile curves for steep ramp test (SRT) performance in 19–24-year-old healthy young adults. This study provides these extended normative values for the absolute SRT-WRpeak and relative SRTWRpeak in 19–24-year-old males and females, and combined them with the existing data of 8–19-year-old boys and girls
This provides a complete overview concerning the development of SRT performance throughout childhood into early adulthood
Summary
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a procedure involving an incremental, graded exercise test of 8–12 min in duration that provides essential diagnostic, prognostic, and evaluative information in a broad spectrum of (chronic) diseases (Vanhees et al 2005). The use of formal CPET seems to be underused in current usual clinical practice. It has its (minor) disadvantages in the light of time investment, availability of the necessary equipment, and the required practical and theoretical skills of the laboratory staff (Stevens et al 2010). Because of these limitations, there is a need for less sophisticated clinical exercise testing procedures to assess CRF that can be applied in usual care. There are some alternatives of interest, such as the steep ramp test (SRT), which does not require respiratory gas analysis measurements
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