Cardiac and Respiratory Responses to Exercise in Health and Disease

Abstract

Appropriate interpretation of cardiopulmonary exercise tests depends on an understanding of exercise physiology. The focus of this chapter is the expected physiologic responses to exercise in normal individuals and how the physiologic responses deviate from the expected patterns in various disease states. We begin by describing a key parameter that is used to assess overall exercise capacity, maximum oxygen consumption, and discuss its relationship to maximum cardiac function. We then review the expected physiologic responses to exercise in normal individuals and, finally, examine the pattern of physiologic responses expected in disorders causing exercise limitation.