Smaller lungs in women affect exercise hyperpnea

John Rankin Laboratory of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705 We subjected 29 healthy young women (age: 27 ± 1 yr) with a wide range of fitness levels [maximal oxygen uptake ( O 2 max ): 57 ± 6 ml · kg 1 · min 1 ; 35-70 ml · kg 1 · min 1 ] to a progressive treadmill running test. Our subjects had significantly smaller lung volumes and lower maximal expiratory flow rates, irrespective of fitness level, compared with predicted values for age- and height-matched men. The higher maximal workload in highly fit ( O 2 max > 57 ml · kg 1 · min 1 , n = 14) vs. less-fit ( O 2 max