On issues of confidence in determining the time constant for oxygen uptake kinetics * Commentary

Previous studies reported faster pulmonary oxygen uptake kinetics at the onset of exercise in untrained youth compared with adults. Whether or not these differences are identical for trained groups have not been examined. The purpose of this study was to compare ̇VO2 kinetics of youth and adult cyclists at moderate and heavy-intensity exercise. Thirteen adult (age: 23.2 ± 4.8 years; ̇VO2peak 68.4 ± 6.8 mL·min-1.kg-1) and thirteen youth cyclists (age: 14.3 ± 1.5 years; ̇VO2peak 61.7 ± 4.3 mL·min-1.kg-1) completed a series of 6-min square wave exercises at moderate and heavy-intensity exercise at 90 rev·min-1. A two-way repeated-measure ANOVA was conducted to identify differences between groups and intensities. The time constant, time delay and the mean response time were not significantly different between youth and adult cyclists (p > 0.05). We found significant differences between intensities, with a faster time constant during moderate than heavy-intensity exercise in youth (24.1 ± 7.0 s vs. 31.8 ± 5.6 s; p = 0.004) and adults (22.7 ± 5.6 s vs. 28.6 ± 5.7 s; p < 0.001). The present data suggest that the effect of training history in adult cyclists compensate for the superior primary response of the oxygen uptake kinetics typically seen in youth compared to adults. Furthermore, the ̇VO2 response is dependent of work rate intensity in trained youth and adult cyclists.

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A Single Bout of Constant-Load Exercise Test for Estimating the Time Constant of Oxygen Uptake Kinetics in Individuals With Stroke

Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine ◽

10.5535/arm.21087 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 304-313

Author(s):

Kazuaki Oyake ◽

Yasuto Baba ◽

Yuki Suda ◽

Jun Murayama ◽

Ayumi Mochida ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Oxygen Uptake ◽

Time Constant ◽

Ventilatory Threshold ◽

Exercise Bout ◽

Relative Difference ◽

Constant Load ◽

Oxygen Uptake Kinetics ◽

Uptake Kinetics ◽

Single Bout ◽

The Relationship

Objective To examine the relationship between the time constant of oxygen uptake kinetics during the onset of exercise (τVO2) estimated from a single exercise bout and that obtained from three averaged exercise bouts in individuals with stroke.Methods Twenty participants with stroke performed three bouts of a constant-load pedaling exercise at approximately 80% of the workload corresponding to the ventilatory threshold to estimate τVO2. The VO2 data from the first trial of three bouts were used to estimate τVO2 for a single bout. Additionally, data collected from three bouts were ensemble-averaged to obtain τVO2 for three averaged bouts as the criterion.Results There was a very high correlation between τVO2 for a single bout (34.8±14.0 seconds) and τVO2 for three averaged bouts (38.5±13.4 seconds) (r=0.926, p<0.001). However, τVO2 for a single bout was smaller than that for three averaged bouts (p=0.006).Conclusion τVO2 for a single bout could reflect the relative difference in τVO2 for three averaged bouts among individuals with stroke. However, it should be noted that τVO2 for a single bout may be underestimated compared to τVO2 for three averaged bouts.

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