Long-term stability of the oxygen pulse curve during maximal exercise

Exercise oxygen pulse (O2 pulse), a surrogate for stroke volume and arteriovenous oxygen difference, has emerged as an important variable obtained during cardiopulmonary exercise testing. We hypothesized that the O2 pulse curve pattern response to a maximal cycling ramp protocol exhibits a stable linear pattern in subjects reevaluated under the same clinical conditions. We retrospectively studied 100 adults (80 males), mean age at baseline of 59 ± 12 years, who performed two cardiopulmonary exercise testings (median interval was 15 months), for clinical and/or exercise prescription reasons. The relative O2 pulse was calculated by dividing its absolute value by body weight. Subjects were classified into quintiles of relative O2 pulse. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing results and the O2 pulse curve pattern, expressed by its slope and intercept, were compared among quintiles of relative O2 pulse at both cardiopulmonary exercise testings. After excluding the first minute of CPX (rest-exercise transition), the relative O2 pulse curve exhibited a linear increase, as demonstrated by high coefficients of determination (R2 from 0.75 to 0.90; p