title: Reliability of peak treadmill exercise tests in mild Alzheimer disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of treadmill peak exercise testing in people with very mild-to-mild Alzheimer disease (AD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen subjects with very mild-to-mild AD performed graded peak treadmill exercise tests twice within a 14-day period. Heart rate, oxygen consumption, and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were continuously monitored. Peak values were analyzed for absolute level of agreement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen participants (87.5%) completed testing. Reliability was excellent with total peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) (ml/kg/min) highly correlated across the two tests (r = 0.94, p < .001) with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC[3,1]) of 0.92 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.78, 0.97). The standard error of measurement (SEM) for VO2peak was 1.29 (95% CI = 0.88, 1.89).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that peak exercise testing on a treadmill is reliable in the early stages of AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas 66160, USA. handerson3@kumc.edu
authors.forename: Heather S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Patricia M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Kluding
authors.forename: Byron J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Gajewski
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Donnelly
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Burns
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D013997:Time Factors