title: Utility of cardiopulmonary stress testing in assessing disease severity in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
abstract: This study sought to assess the safety of cardiopulmonary stress testing in 40 children with pulmonary arterial hypertension and to compare exercise responses in this patient cohort with those of a healthy control population. Patients with pulmonary hypertension had significant impairment in aerobic capacity, with a peak oxygen consumption of 20.7 +/- 6.9 versus 35.5 +/- 7.4 ml/kg/min in healthy controls (p <0.0001). Peak oxygen consumption was strongly correlated with invasive measures of disease severity, including pulmonary vascular resistance index (r = -0.6, p = 0.006). Exercise testing can be performed safely in this group of patients and can yield valuable clinical information.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Program, Children's Hospital Heart Institute, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, USA. yetman.angela@tchden.org
authors.forename: Anji T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Yetman
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Aimee
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.forename: D Dunbar
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Ivy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000009:adverse effects; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D012449:Safety; D012720:Severity of Illness Index