Major statements regarding pulmonary haemodynamics during exercise in healthy subjects
| At progressing exercise levels and CO, a steady increase of PAPm and PAWP, a modest decrease of TPR and a very modest decrease of PVR can be observed |
| The PAPm/CO slope appears to be largely independent of sex, although minor differences may be present |
| The elevation of PAPm (the PAPm/CO slope) during exercise is largely dependent on age |
| There are very few data available on pulmonary haemodynamics during exercise in overweight subjects |
| Body position has an influence on pulmonary haemodynamics: in the upright as compared to the supine position, PAPm, PAWP, stroke volume and CO are lowered, whereas heart rate, PVR and arterio-venous oxygen difference are increased both at rest and mild exercise levels. Posture-induced haemodynamic differences decrease during increasing levels of exercise |
| Most haemodynamic data during exercise were assessed by means of cycle ergometry. No direct comparison of haemodynamics between treadmill and cycle ergometry is available |
CO: cardiac output; PAPm: mean pulmonary arterial pressure; PAWP: pulmonary arterial wedge pressure; TPR: total pulmonary resistance; PVR: pulmonary vascular resistance.