Indications for cardiopulmonary exercise testing in clinical practice
| Indication | Recommendation grade |
| Detection of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction | A |
| Detection of exercise-induced arterial oxygen desaturation | B |
| Functional evaluation of subjects with unexplained exertional dyspnoea and/or exercise intolerance and normal resting lung and heart function | D |
| To recognise specific disease exercise response patterns that may help in the differential diagnosis of ventilatory versus circulatory causes of exercise limitation | C |
| Functional and prognostic evaluation of patients with COPD | B, C |
| Functional and prognostic evaluation of patients with ILD | B, B |
| Functional and prognostic evaluation of patients with CF | C, C |
| Functional and prognostic evaluation of patients with PPH | B, B |
| Functional and prognostic evaluation of patients with CHF | B, B |
| Evaluation of interventions | |
| Maximal incremental test | C |
| High-intensity constant work-rate “endurance” tests | B |
| Prescription of exercise training | B |
With the use of this grading system, A is relatively rare and B is usually considered the best achievable. COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ILD: interstitial lung disease; CF: cystic fibrosis; PPH: primary pulmonary hypertension; CHF: chronic heart failure.