Exercise Tolerance During Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing

Subjects are expected to continue exercising to their limit of tolerance during a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), since a maximal or near maximal effort is generally considered necessary for valid test results. However, very little is known about exercise tolerance during CPET. Fifty apparently healthy men visited the laboratory on two occasions. The first visit was mainly to familiarise the subjects with the equipment and test procedures and to complete questionnaires and a pain threshold test. On the second visit, subjects performed a maximal incremental treadmill test. Twenty-three men terminated the test mainly due to leg fatigue and discomfort, 11 due to breathing discomfort, 2 due to safety concerns, and 14 because of other reasons. The mode for the total number of reasons that subjects stated influenced why they terminated the test when they did was six (range = 12). Thirty-nine of the subjects set themselves some sort of performance goals before or during the CPET.