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Clinical Investigations: ExerciseThe Effects of Exercise Testing on the Prescription of Oxygen Therapy
Section snippets
Patient Selection
We examined test results from all patients referred to our pulmonary function laboratory from November 1985 to September 1987 who had arterial blood gas (ABG) measurements obtained during rest and exercise. All patients (N=413) who underwent exercise testing while breathing room air were included. If a patient had more than one study conducted during this period, only results from the first study were selected.
Blood Gas and Cutaneous Oximetry Measurements
All ABG samples were obtained from a radial artery catheter placed percutaneously.
Results
Data from 413 patients were analyzed in two groups. Group 1 included 295 patients who underwent incremental exercise testing with one or both of the cutaneous oximeters. Data from the remaining 118 patients were not included in this analysis because they were obtained from different oximeters. The number of patients studied with these other oximeters was insufficient for inclusion. Group 2 included 142 patients who underwent incremental exercise followed by constant work rate testing.
Discussion
The results of this study show that using oximetry measurements alone as the basis to prescribe oxygen during exercise (using previous Medicare guidelines of an oxygen saturation of 85 percent or less) would result in denying appropriate oxygen therapy to many patients who would otherwise qualify for such therapy based on PaO2 measurements. These results are similar to those observed in the resting state.5 While using the current Medicare criteria, an oxygen saturation of 88 percent or less,
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Lela Prewitt for the data analysis, and Jeffery Johnson and Carlos Lopez for the performance of the exercise testing.
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Cited by (12)
Detecting oxygen desaturation in patients with COPD: Incremental versus endurance shuttle walking
2008, Respiratory MedicineCitation Excerpt :Also when a group of patients underwent an incremental followed by a constant work test, 9/28 showed a fall in arterial oxygen tension to 55 mmHg or below only during the constant work test.5 Patients performing a constant work rate test appear to desaturate to a greater extent than when observed in an incremental test.6 Consequently the type of test and mode of exercise may influence the decision to prescribe supplementary oxygen.
Pruebas de ejercicio cardiopulmonar
2001, Archivos de BronconeumologiaERS statement on standardisation of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in chronic lung diseases
2019, European Respiratory ReviewCardiopulmonary exercise testing. Procedure and recommendations
2019, Neumologia y Cirugia de Torax(Mexico)Cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Procedure and recommendations
2015, Neumologia y Cirugia de Torax(Mexico)Cardiopulmonary exercise test
2012, Respiration and Circulation
Supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant RR00827 from the Division of Research Resources for the Clinical Research Center. Revision accepted January 26, 1994