title: Standardized submaximal exercise testing in never smokers: a normative study.
abstract: In a population survey on the south-western coast of Norway, 373 never smokers aged 18-73 years (230 women) without respiratory symptoms performed a standardized, progressive, incremental submaximal bicycle exercise test. All individuals were able to do an exercise involving oxygen uptake of 1.0 l min(-1), 80% of the subjects reached 1.5 l min(-1) and 50% of the subjects reached 2.0 l min(-1). The respiratory frequency (RF), ventilation (VE) and heart rate (HR) for a given oxygen uptake were all higher in women than in men. Significant predictors of failure to reach oxygen uptake of 1.5 and 2.0 l min(-1) were sex, age, body height and weight. Prediction equations are given for respiratory frequency, heart rate and ventilation for an oxygen uptake of 1.0 l min(-1) in women and 1.5 l min(-1) in men; and body height is a strong predictor for all dependent variables. A multiple linear regression analysis in women showed that age was a significant predictor of respiratory frequency (P<0.05), ventilation (P<0.001) and heart rate (P<0.001), while in men age was a significant predictor only of ventilation (P<0.001) during the bicycle exercise protocol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Medicine, Institute of Medicine, University of Bergen, N-5021 Haukeland sykehus-Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gulsvik
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bakke
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Humerfelt
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Omenaas
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Speizer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D012016:Reference Values; D012119:Respiration; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012907:Smoking