title: Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Pediatrics.
abstract: Aerobic fitness is an important determinant of overall health. Higher aerobic fitness has been associated with many health benefits. Because myocardial ischemia is rare in children, indications for exercise testing differ in children compared with adults. Pediatric exercise testing is imperative to unravel the physiological mechanisms of reduced aerobic fitness and to evaluate intervention effects in children and adolescents with a chronic disease or disability. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing includes the measurement of respiratory gas exchange and is the gold standard for determining aerobic fitness, as well as for examining the integrated physiological responses to exercise in pediatric medicine. As the physiological responses to exercise change during growth and development, appropriate pediatric reference values are essential for an adequate interpretation of the cardiopulmonary exercise test.
authors.affiliation: 1 Child Development and Exercise Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takken
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Epidemiology, Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bart C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Bongers
authors.affiliation: 1 Child Development and Exercise Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Brussel
authors.affiliation: 3 Sport and Exercise Medicine, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; and.|4 Department of Physiology, Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Finland.
authors.forename: Eero A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Haapala
authors.affiliation: 1 Child Development and Exercise Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Erik H J
authors.initials: EHJ
authors.lastname: Hulzebos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000072599:Cardiorespiratory Fitness; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005080:Exercise Test; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D006801:Humans; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010372:Pediatrics; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange
keywords: aerobic capacity; children; exercise physiology; exercise testing; physical fitness