Article

Gas exchange variables derived from cardiopulmonary exercise tests
(CPETs) need to be reliable for evaluating interventions and clinical decision
making. Whereas peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text
article.)O2) has shown to be a highly reliable parameter in patients with
coronary artery disease (CAD), little is known about the reproducibility of these
parameters in patients with CAD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to
confirm the reliability of peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2
and to investigate the reliability of submaximal CPET variables in patients with
CAD. METHODS: Eighty-five patients with CAD (57.6 +/- 8.5 years; 79 males)
performed 2 CPETs within 10 days before starting a rehabilitation program.
Reliability of peak and submaximal exercise variables was assessed by using
intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficients of variation, Pearson
correlation coefficients, paired t tests, and Bland-Altman plots. RESULTS:
Maximal and submaximal exercise parameters showed adequate reliability. Overall,
there was a good correlation across both testing occasions (r = 0.63-0.95; P <
.05 for all). Peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2 (ICC, 0.95; 95%
CI, 0.92-0.97) demonstrated excellent reliability. Of the submaximal exercise
variables, oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES) was as reliable as peak
(Equation is included in full-text article.)O2 (ICC, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.98).
The ventilation/carbon dioxide production ((Equation is included in full-text
article.)E/(Equation is included in full-text article.)CO2) slope showed very
good test-retest reliability (ICC, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.80-0.91) and the (Equation is
included in full-text article.)O2/work rate slope showed good reliability (ICC,
0.76; 95% CI, 0.64-0.85). CONCLUSIONS: Both peak (Equation is included in
full-text article.)O2 and OUES show excellent test-retest reliability.
Accordingly, in the case of no or unreliable peak (Equation is included in
full-text article.)O2 data, we suggest using OUES to evaluate cardiorespiratory
fitness in patients with CAD.

Langue : ANGLAIS