Maximal aerobic and anaerobic power and stroke volume of the heart in a subalpine population

Summary

Maximal aerobic ($\dot V_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{\max }$) and anaerobic power ($\dot W_{\text{P}}^{\max }$), fat free body weight, maximal cardiac output ($\dot Q_{}^{\max }$) stroke volume (q ^max) of the heart and the O₂ capacity of the blood (Hb) were measured on 145 subjects in the age range 9–64 selected at random on a population of a subalpine area of Northern Italy. At the age of 17–25 years ($\dot V_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{\max }$) has been found to be on the average 41.5 ml/kg · min in the males and 33.9 ml/kg · min in the females: when referred to 1 kg of lean body weight ($\dot V_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} {\text{LBW}}}^{\max }$), it amounts to 48 and 46 ml O₂/kg · min respectively. ($\dot W_{\text{P}}^{\max }$) expressed as ml O₂/kg · min in the same group of individuals is 173 for males and 146 for females. When referred to 1 kg of lean body weight the maximal anaerobic power is respectively 201 and 199 ml O₂/kg · min. Both ($\dot V_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{\max }$) and ($\dot W_{\text{P}}^{\max }$) decrease with increasing age.

($\dot Q_{}^{\max }$) appears to be a linear function of$\dot V_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{\max }$ ·q is on the average 1.6 ml per kilogram of body weight for males with a high individual variability (σ = 15%) and 1.4 for females: it appears to be independent of age.