Reference Values for Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Healthy Volunteers–the SHIP Study

¹ Dept of Cardiology, Pneumology and Infectious Diseases, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
² Institute for Community Medicine, SHIP/Clinical-Epidemiological Research, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
³ Dept of Cardiology, DRK-Kliniken Berlin/Westend, Berlin, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: beate.koch{at}uni-greifswald.de.

	Abstract

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a widely applied clinical procedure. The study aim was to acquire a comprehensive set of reference values for cardiopulmonary responses to exercise and to evaluate possible associations with gender, age and body mass index.

A standardised progressive incremental exercise protocol on a cycle ergometer was applied to 1708 volunteers of a cross-sectional epidemiologic survey, called "Study of Health in Pomerania – SHIP". Individuals with cardiopulmonary disorders, echocardiographic or lung function pathologies were excluded. The influence of potential confounding factors, such as smoking, taking beta-blockers, hypertension, diastolic dysfunction, BMI, and physical activity, were analysed for their influencing power. Reference values of CPET parameters were determined by regression analyses.

Of the volunteers, 542 current smokers and obese individuals were excluded for not being representative of a healthy population. The final sample size was 534 (253 males), ages 25 to 80 years. The study provides a representative set of reference values for CPET parameters based on age and weight.

Gender and age have a significant influence on exercise parameters. While addressing the problem of a selection bias, this study provides the first comprehensive set of reference values obtained in a large number of healthy volunteers within a population-based survey.