• Marie Bellefleur, David Debeaumont, Alain Boutry, Marie Netchitailo, Antoine Cuvelier, Jean-François Muir, Catherine Tardif, and Jérémy Coquart.
• Service de Pneumologie, Hôpital de Bois-Guillaume, CHU de Rouen, 76031 Rouen Cedex, France.
• Pulm Med. 2016 Jan 1; 2016: 9160781.

AbstractBackground. This study investigated respiratory gas exchanges and heart rate (HR) kinetics during early-phase recovery after a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) grouped according to airflow limitation. Methods. Thirty control individuals (control group: CG) and 81 COPD patients (45 with "mild" or "moderate" airflow limitation, COPDI-II, versus 36 with "severe" or "very severe" COPD, COPDIII-IV) performed a maximal CPET. The first 3 min of recovery kinetics was investigated for oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O2), minute ventilation ([Formula: see text]), respiratory equivalence, and HR. The time for [Formula: see text]O2 to reach 25% (T1/4[Formula: see text]O2) of peak value was also determined and compared. Results. The [Formula: see text]O2, [Formula: see text], and HR recovery kinetics were significantly slower in both COPD groups than CG (p < 0.05). Moreover, COPDIII-IV group had significantly higher [Formula: see text]O2 and [Formula: see text] during recovery than COPDI-II group (p < 0.05). T1/4[Formula: see text]O2 significantly differed between groups (p < 0.01; 58 ± 18 s in CG, 79 ± 26 s in COPDI-II group, and 121 ± 34 s in COPDIII-IV) and was significantly correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second in COPD patients (p < 0.001, r = 0.53) and with peak power output (p < 0.001, r = 0.59). Conclusion. The COPD groups showed slower kinetics in the early recovery period than CG, and the kinetics varied with severity of airflow obstruction.

27 keywords...

hide…