Maximal aerobic capacity in ageing subjects: actual measurements versus predicted values.

A new study in the European Respiratory Journal focuses on proper interpretation values for the measured VO2max in elderly patients.

This study stresses the importance of the selection of VO2max reference equations, especially for older subjects, and offers clinicians some information to guide their choice. As a matter of fact, predicted VO2max values for older people may vary significantly according to the selected reference equation.

Therefore, to evaluate the impact of selection of reference values on the categorisation of VO2max as “normal” or “abnormal”, the study compared the measured maximal oxygen consumption (VO2peak) on a cycle ergometer in 99 healthy Caucasian subjects aged ⩾70 years with the predicted VO2max provided by five different studies. We calculated the differences between the measured VO2peak and the predicted VO2max, and also examined relationships between the measured VO2peak and the lower limit of normal (LLN).

The study findings confirm that the proportion of subjects aged ⩾70 years with a “low” VO2peak differs markedly according to the chosen reference equations. In clinical practice, it is still relevant to test a sample of healthy volunteers and select the reference equations that better characterise this sample.

The article details are the following:

- Title: "Maximal aerobic capacity in ageing subjects: actual measurements versus predicted values"
- Authors: Cristina Pistea, Evelyne Lonsdorfer, Stéphane Doutreleau, Monique Oswald, Irina Enache, Anne Charloux
- Published in: ERJ Open Research 2016 2: 00068-2015

The study can be accessed freely at the following link: click here