Prediction of whole-body V˙O2peak using a novel incremental respiratory test

The peak oxygen consumption (V˙O2peak) is a strong predictor of mortality1 and perioperative cardiopulmonary complications.2 While incremental exercise tests are required to determine V˙O2peak, intense whole-body exercise may not be feasible for patients who, for example, suffer from muscular or joint problems of different aetiologies or that are bed-ridden. To circumvent the need for exercise, attempts have been made to predict V˙O2peak based solely on anthropometric data such as height, weight, sex, and vital capacity3 or the ratio between resting heart rate (HRrest) and predicted maximal heart rate (HRmax).4 Since it is known that the level of respiratory muscle performance is related to the level of physical fitness,5 we hypothesized that adding a functional measurement of respiratory muscles might further improve the accuracy of V˙O2peak prediction. To this end, we tested whether performance from an...