Abstract
Purposes(i) To investigate the influence of concurrent changes in age, maturity status, stature, body mass, and skinfold thicknesses on the development of peak ventilatory variables in 10–17-year-olds; and, (ii) to evaluate the interpretation of paediatric norm tables of peak ventilatory variables.MethodsMultiplicative multilevel modelling which allows both the number of observations per individual and the temporal spacing of the observations to vary was used to analyze the expired ventilation (peak {dot{mathrm{V}}}_{mathrm{E}}) and tidal volume (peak VT) at peak oxygen uptake of 420 (217 boys) 10–17-year-olds. Models were founded on 1053 (550 from boys) determinations of peak ventilatory variables supported by anthropometric measures and maturity status.ResultsIn sex-specific, multiplicative allometric models, concurrent changes in body mass and skinfold thicknesses (as a surrogate of FFM) and age were significant (p < 0.05) explanatory variables of the development of peak {dot{mathrm{V}}}_{mathrm{E}}, once these covariates had been controlled for stature had no additional, significant (p > 0.05) effect on peak {dot{mathrm{V}}}_{mathrm{E}}. Concurrent changes in age, stature, body mass, and skinfold thicknesses were significant (p < 0.05) explanatory variables of the development of peak VT. Maturity status had no additional, significant (p > 0.05) effect on either peak {dot{mathrm{V}}}_{mathrm{E}} or peak VT once age and morphological covariates had been controlled for.ConclusionsElucidation of the sex-specific development of peak {dot{mathrm{V}}}_{mathrm{E}} requires studies which address concurrent changes in body mass, skinfold thicknesses, and age. Stature is an additional explanatory variable in the development of peak VT, in both sexes. Paediatric norms based solely on age or stature or body mass are untenable.
Highlights
Paediatric cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPETs) are widely used to assess cardiovascular and pulmonary health (Rowland 2018), and incremental CPETs with respiratory gas analyses are internationally recognized as the ‘gold standard’ for evaluation of both healthy youth (American Thoracic Society/American College of Chest Physicians 2003) and those with pulmonary diseases (Lang et al 2020)
The highest 30 s V O2 attained was recorded as peak V O2 and accepted as a maximal index if clear signs of intense exertion were demonstrated, supported by an HR which was levelling-off over the final stages of the test at a value within 5% of the mean maximal HRs we have previously reported for boys and girls of these ages (Armstrong et al 1991)
In accord with the extant literature (Ruttenfranz et al 1981; Prioux et al 1997; Rowland and Cunningham 1997), peak V E and peak VT increased in a near-linear manner with each of age, stature, body mass, and fat-free mass (FFM) with peak fb weakly and negatively associated with age and morphological variables, in both sexes
Summary
Paediatric cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPETs) are widely used to assess cardiovascular and pulmonary health (Rowland 2018), and incremental CPETs with respiratory gas analyses are internationally recognized as the ‘gold standard’ for evaluation of both healthy youth (American Thoracic Society/American College of Chest Physicians 2003) and those with pulmonary diseases (Lang et al 2020). Oxygen uptake ( V O2 ) at the termination of an incremental CPET to voluntary exhaustion (i.e., peak V O2 ) is the most comprehensively researched variable in the history of. European Journal of Applied Physiology (2021) 121:783–792 paediatric exercise science (Falk et al 2018). First reported over 80 years ago (Robinson 1938), the documentation of corresponding peak ventilatory variables (i.e., values at peak V O2 ) is relatively sparse, and their development in youth in relation to concurrent changes in age, growth, and maturation has not been effectively addressed
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