The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy and suitability of the oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES) to assess cardiorespiratory fitness in intellectually disabled (ID) individuals.
We studied 40 sedentary ID individuals using a bicycle ergometer. Peak VO2, ventilation threshold (VT), and OUES were measured as indices of exercise performance. OUES was calculated on data corresponding to 60, 80 and 100% of the heart rate max (OUES60, OUES80, OUES100). These relative exercise intensities were identified using the predicted maximal heart rate (220-age).
Of the 40 participants, 12 did not reach a peak respiratory exchange ratio (RER) of 1.09, while 28 subjects exceeded this value. A highly significant correlation was observed between OUES and peak VO2 (r = 0.88, p < 0.01), whereas a moderately significant correlation was found between VT and peak VO2 (r = 0.68, p < 0.01). No significant differences were found between OUES100, OUES60, and OUES80 in the maximal effort group. The OUES of ID individuals is related to peak VO2, is not influenced by exercise intensity, and can be used to evaluate cardiorespiratory evaluation at approximately 60% submaximal
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