VO2 max

V̇O2 max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake or maximal aerobic capacity) is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption measured during incremental exercise; that is, exercise of increasing intensity.[1][2] The name is derived from three abbreviations: "V̇" for volume (the dot appears over the V to indicate "per unit of time"), "O2" for oxygen, and "max" for maximum.

The measurement of V̇O2 max in the laboratory provides a quantitative value of endurance fitness for comparison of individual training effects and between people in endurance training. Maximal oxygen consumption reflects cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance capacity in exercise performance. Elite athletes, such as competitive distance runners, racing cyclists or Olympic cross-country skiers, can achieve V̇O2 max values exceeding 90 mL/(kg·min), while some endurance animals, such as Alaskan huskies, have V̇O2 max values exceeding 200 mL/(kg·min).

Relationship to cardiovascular disease and life expectancy

V̇O2 max is widely used as an indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness. In 2016, the American Heart Association published a scientific statement[3] recommending that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), quantifiable as V̇O2 max, be regularly assessed and used as a clinical vital sign. This statement was based on mounting evidence that lower fitness levels are associated with high risk of cardiovascular disease, all-cause mortality, and mortality rates stemming from various types of cancers. In addition to risk assessment, the AHA recommendation cited the value measuring fitness for validating exercise prescription, physical activity counseling, and improving both patient management and patient health.

Expression

V̇O2 max is expressed either as an absolute rate in (for example) litres of oxygen per minute (L/min) or as a relative rate in (for example) millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute (e.g., mL/(kg·min)). The latter expression is often used to compare the performance of endurance sports athletes. However, V̇O2 max generally does not vary linearly with body mass, either among individuals within a species or among species, so comparisons of the performance capacities of individuals or species that differ in body size must be done with appropriate statistical procedures, such as analysis of covariance.[2]

Measurement and calculation

Measurement

VO2 max measurement using instruments on a metabolic cart during a graded treadmill exercise test
Gas exchange of VO2 and VCO2 during max test. Begin for 3 mins at 60 watts and add 35 watts every 3 minutes until exhaustion

Accurately measuring V̇O2 max involves a physical effort sufficient in duration and intensity to fully tax the aerobic energy system. In general clinical and athletic testing, this usually involves a graded exercise test (either on a treadmill or on a cycle ergometer) in which exercise intensity is progressively increased while measuring:

  • ventilation and
  • oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration of the inhaled and exhaled air.

V̇O2 max is reached when oxygen consumption remains at a steady state despite an increase in workload.

Calculation: the Fick equation

V̇O2 max is properly defined by the Fick equation:

, when these values are obtained during an exertion at a maximal effort.
where Q is the cardiac output of the heart, CaO2 is the arterial oxygen content, and CvO2 is the venous oxygen content.
(CaO2CvO2) is also known as the arteriovenous oxygen difference.[4]

Estimation using submaximal exercise testing

The necessity for a subject to exert maximum effort in order to accurately measure V̇O2 max can be dangerous in those with compromised respiratory or cardiovascular systems; thus, sub-maximal tests for estimating V̇O2 max have been developed.

The heart rate ratio method

An estimate of V̇O2 max is based on maximum and resting heart rates.[5] It is given by:

This equation uses the ratio of maximum heart rate (HRmax) to resting heart rate (HRrest) to predict V̇O2 max. The researchers cautioned that the conversion rule was based on measurements on well-trained men aged 21 to 51 only, and may not be reliable when applied to other sub-groups. They also advised that the formula is most reliable when based on actual measurement of maximum heart rate, rather than an age-related estimate.

In around 40-year-old normal weight never-smoking men with no cardiovascular diseases, bronchial asthma, or cancer, the HRmax to HRrest ratio should be multiplied by approximately 14 to estimate V̇O2 max.[6] Every 10 years of age reduces the coefficient by one, as well as does the change in body weight from normal weight to obese or the change from never-smoker to current smoker. Consequently, V̇O2 max of 60-year-old obese current smoker men should be estimated by multiplying the HRmax to HRrest ratio by 10.

Cooper test

Kenneth H. Cooper conducted a study for the United States Air Force in the late 1960s. One of the results of this was the Cooper test in which the distance covered running in 12 minutes is measured. Based on the measured distance, an estimate of V̇O2 max [in mL/(kg·min)] is:

where d12 is distance (in metres) covered in 12 minutes.

An alternative equation is:

where d12 is distance (in miles) covered in 12 minutes.

Multi-stage fitness test

There are several other reliable tests and V̇O2 max calculators to estimate V̇O2 max, most notably the multi-stage fitness test (or beep test).[7]

Rockport fitness walking test

Estimation of V̇O2 max from a timed one-mile track walk incorporating duration in minutes and seconds (t, e.g.: 20:35 would be specified as 20.58), gender, age, body weight in pounds (BW), and heart rate in 10 sec (HR) at the end of the mile.[8] The constant x is 6.3150 for males, 0 for females. BW is in lbs, time is in minutes.

Effect of training

Non-athletes

The average untrained healthy male has a V̇O2 max of approximately 35–40 mL/(kg·min).[9][10] The average untrained healthy female has a V̇O2 max of approximately 27–31 mL/(kg·min).[9] These scores can improve with training and decrease with age, though the degree of trainability also varies widely.[11]

Athletes

In sports where endurance is an important component in performance, such as road cycling, rowing, cross-country skiing, swimming, and long-distance running, world-class athletes typically have high V̇O2 max values. Elite male runners can consume up to 85 mL/(kg·min), and female elite runners can consume about 77 mL/(kg·min).[12]

High values in absolute terms for humans may be found in rowers, as their greater bulk makes up for a slightly lower V̇O2 max per body weight. Elite oarsmen measured in 1984 had V̇O2 max values of 6.1±0.6 L/min and oarswomen 4.1±0.4 L/min.[13] New Zealand sculler Rob Waddell has one of the highest absolute V̇O2 max levels ever tested.[14]

Animals

V̇O2 max has been measured in other animal species. During loaded swimming, mice had a V̇O2 max of around 140 mL/(kg·min).[15] Thoroughbred horses had a V̇O2 max of around 193 mL/(kg·min) after 18 weeks of high-intensity training.[16] Alaskan huskies running in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race had V̇O2 max values as high as 240 mL/(kg·min).[17] Estimated V̇O2 max for pronghorn antelopes was as high as 300 mL/(kg·min).[18]

Limiting factors

The factors affecting V̇O2 may be separated into supply and demand.[19] Supply is the transport of oxygen from the lungs to the mitochondria (combining pulmonary function, cardiac output, blood volume, and capillary density of the skeletal muscle) while demand is the rate at which the mitochondria can reduce oxygen in the process of oxidative phosphorylation.[19] Of these, the supply factors may be more limiting.[19][20] However, it has also been argued that while trained subjects are probably supply limited, untrained subjects can indeed have a demand limitation.[21]

General characteristics that affect V̇O2 max include age, sex, fitness and training, and altitude. V̇O2 max can be a poor predictor of performance in runners due to variations in running economy and fatigue resistance during prolonged exercise. The body works as a system. If one of these factors is sub-par, then the whole system's normal capacity is reduced.[21]

The drug erythropoietin (EPO) can boost V̇O2 max by a significant amount in both humans and other mammals.[22] This makes EPO attractive to athletes in endurance sports, such as professional cycling. EPO has been banned since the 1990s as an illicit performance-enhancing substance. But by 1998 it had become widespread in cycling and led to the Festina affair[23][24] as well as being mentioned ubiquitously in the USADA 2012 report on the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team.[25] Greg LeMond has suggested establishing a baseline for riders' V̇O2 max (and other attributes) to detect abnormal performance increases.[26]

History

British physiologist Archibald Hill introduced the concepts of maximal oxygen uptake and oxygen debt in 1922.[27][20] Hill and German physician Otto Meyerhof shared the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their independent work related to muscle energy metabolism.[28] Building on this work, scientists began measuring oxygen consumption during exercise. Key contributions were made by Henry Taylor at the University of Minnesota, Scandinavian scientists Per-Olof Åstrand and Bengt Saltin in the 1950s and 60s, the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, German universities, and the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre.[29][30]

See also

References

  1. Clemente C. J.; Withers P. C.; Thompson G. G. (2009). "Metabolic rate and endurance capacity in Australian varanid lizards (Squamata; Varanidae; Varanus)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 97 (3): 664–676. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01207.x.
  2. 1 2 Dlugosz E. M., Chappell M. A., Meek T. H., Szafrañska P., Zub K., Konarzewski M., Jones J. H., Bicudo J. E. P. W., Careau V., Garland T., Jr (2013). "Phylogenetic analysis of mammalian maximal oxygen consumption during exercise" (PDF). Journal of Experimental Biology. 216 (24): 4712–4721. doi:10.1242/jeb.088914. PMID 24031059. S2CID 15686903.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Ross, Robert; Blair, Steven N.; Arena, Ross; Church, Timothy S.; Després, Jean-Pierre; Franklin, Barry A.; Haskell, William L.; Kaminsky, Leonard A.; Levine, Benjamin D.; Lavie, Carl J.; Myers, Jonathan; Niebauer, Josef; Sallis, Robert; Sawada, Susumu S.; Sui, Xuemei; Wisløff, Ulrik (13 December 2016). "Importance of Assessing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Clinical Practice: A Case for Fitness as a Clinical Vital Sign: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association". Circulation. 134 (24). doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000461. PMID 27881567. S2CID 3372949.
  4. "Arteriovenous oxygen difference". Sports Medicine, Sports Science and Kinesiology. Net Industries and its Licensors. 2011. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  5. Uth, Niels; Henrik Sørensen; Kristian Overgaard; Preben K. Pedersen (January 2004). "Estimation of VO2max from the ratio between HRmax and HRrest--the Heart Rate Ratio Method" (PDF). Eur J Appl Physiol. 91 (1): 111–5. doi:10.1007/s00421-003-0988-y. PMID 14624296. S2CID 23971067.
  6. Voutilainen, Ari; Mounir Ould Setti; Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen (July 2020). "Estimating Maximal Oxygen Uptake from the Ratio of Heart Rate at Maximal Exercise to Heart Rate at Rest in Middle-Aged Men" (PDF). World J Mens Health. 38: e39. doi:10.5534/wjmh.200055. ISSN 2287-4208. PMC 8443998. PMID 32777866.
  7. [Leger, Luc A., and J_ Lambert. "A maximal multistage 20-m shuttle run test to predict\ dot VO2 max." European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology 49.1 (1982): 1-12.]
  8. Kilne G, et al. (1987). "Estimation of VO2 max from a one mile track walk, gender, age and body weight". Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 19 (3): 253–259. PMID 3600239.
  9. 1 2 Heyward, V (1998). "Advance Fitness Assessment & Exercise Prescription, 3rd Ed". p. 48.
  10. Guyton, A.; Hall, J.E. (2011). "Textbook of Medical Physiology, 12th Ed". pp. 1035–1036.
  11. Williams, Camilla; Williams, Mark; Coombes, Jeff (14 November 2017). "Genes to predict VO2max trainability: a systematic review". BMC Genomics. 18 (Suppl 8): 831. doi:10.1186/s12864-017-4192-6. PMC 5688475. PMID 29143670.
  12. Noakes, Tim (2001). The Lore of Running. (3rd edition) Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-88011-438-7
  13. Hagerman, FC (Jul–Aug 1984). "Applied physiology of rowing". Sports Med. 1 (4): 303–26. doi:10.2165/00007256-198401040-00005. PMID 6390606. S2CID 35619324.
  14. Gough, Martin (17 June 2009). "Monsters wanted". BBC. Archived from the original on 2010-11-01.
  15. Glaser, R. M.; Gross, P. M.; Weiss, H. S. (1972). "Maximal aerobic metabolism of mice during swimming". Experimental Biology and Medicine. 140 (1): 230–233. doi:10.3181/00379727-140-36431. PMID 5033099. S2CID 378983.
  16. Kitaoka, Y.; Masuda, H.; Mukai, K.; Hiraga, A.; Takemasa, T.; Hatta, H. (2011). "Effect of training and detraining on monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) 1 and MCT4 in Thoroughbred horses". Experimental Physiology. 96 (3): 348–55. doi:10.1113/expphysiol.2010.055483. PMID 21148623. S2CID 28298003.
  17. Roger Segelke (9 December 1996). "Winterize Rover for cold-weather fitness, Cornell veterinarian advises". Cornell University Chronicle. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  18. Lindstedt, S. L.; Hokanson, J. F.; Wells, D. J.; Swain, S. D.; Hoppeler, H.; Navarro, V. (1991). "Running energetics in the pronghorn antelope". Nature. 353 (6346): 748–50. Bibcode:1991Natur.353..748L. doi:10.1038/353748a0. PMID 1944533. S2CID 4363282.
  19. 1 2 3 Bassett D.R Jr.; Howley E.T. (2000). "Limiting factors for maximum oxygen uptake and determinants of endurance performance". Med Sci Sports Exerc. 32 (1): 70–84. doi:10.1097/00005768-200001000-00012. PMID 10647532.
  20. 1 2 Bassett, David R.; Howley, Edward T. (May 1997). "Maximal oxygen uptake: 'classical' versus 'contemporary' viewpoints". Medicine &amp Science in Sports &amp Exercise. 29 (5): 591–603. doi:10.1097/00005768-199705000-00002. PMID 9140894.
  21. 1 2 Wagner P.D. (2000). "New ideas on limitations to VO2max". Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 28 (1): 10–4. PMID 11131681.
  22. Kolb E. M. (2010). "Erythropoietin elevates V.O2, max but not voluntary wheel running in mice". Journal of Experimental Biology. 213 (3): 510–519. doi:10.1242/jeb.029074. PMID 20086137.
  23. Lundby C.; Robach P.; Boushel R.; Thomsen J. J.; Rasmussen P.; Koskolou M.; Calbet J. A. L. (2008). "Does recombinant human Epo increase exercise capacity by means other than augmenting oxygen transport?". Journal of Applied Physiology. 105 (2): 581–7. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.90484.2008. hdl:10553/6534. PMID 18535134.
  24. Lodewijkx Hein F.M.; Brouwer Bram (2011). "Some Empirical Notes on the Epo Epidemic in Professional Cycling". Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 82 (4): 740–754. doi:10.5641/027013611X13275192112069. PMID 22276416.
  25. USADA U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team Investigation, Oct 2012, retr 2012 10 20 from usada.org
  26. Greg LeMond’s suggestions for a credible future for cycling Conal Andrews, July 28, 2010, Velo Nation, retr 2012 10 20
  27. Hale, Tudor (15 February 2008). "History of developments in sport and exercise physiology: A. V. Hill, maximal oxygen uptake, and oxygen debt". Journal of Sports Sciences. 26 (4): 365–400. doi:10.1080/02640410701701016. PMID 18228167. S2CID 33768722.
  28. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1922". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  29. Seiler, Stephen (2011). "A Brief History of Endurance Testing in Athletes" (PDF). SportScience. 15 (5).
  30. "History of Exercise Physiology". Human Kinetics Europe. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
This article is issued from Offline. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.