An Evaluation of Cardiorespiratory Performance During Exercise and the Effects of Physical Training in Asthma

PART 1. There is a lack of objective information regarding work performance in asthma. A progressive incremental exercise test was carried out on 44 young adults aged 16 to 40 years with mild to moderate asthma and 64 normal healthy subjects matched for habitual activity, to compare cardiorespiratory fitness and to determine the relative contribution of airflow obstruction to exercise limitation. The two groups achieved similar maximum heart rates (as % predicted). After allowing for confounding factors the asthmatic subjects had a lower VO2 max (by 199 ml min-1 p<0.001) than control subjects. Asthmatic status also accounted for a reduction in anaerobic threshold (125 ml min-1 p<0.001) and oxygen pulse (0.805 ml beat-1 p