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Reproducibility of relationships between human ventilation, its components and oesophageal temperature during incremental exercise

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Abstract

For human exercise at intensities greater than ~70 to 85% of maximal levels of exertion, ventilation (V E) increases proportionately to core temperature (T C) following distinct T C thresholds. This suggested T C in humans could be a modulator of exercise-induced ventilation. This study tested the reproducibility of relationships between oesophageal temperature (T oes), ventilation and its components during incremental exercise. On two nonconsecutive days, at an ambient temperature of 22.1±0.3°C and RH of 45±5%, seven untrained adult males of normal physique pedaled on a seated cycle ergometer in an incremental exercise protocol from rest to the point of exhaustion. In each exercise session, ventilatory equivalents for oxygen consumption \((V_{\text{E}} \cdot {V_{\text{O}_{\text{2}}}} ^{ - 1}) \) and carbon dioxide production \((V_{\text{E}} \cdot {V_{\text{CO}_{\text{2}}}} ^{ - 1}) \) plus the components of V E, tidal volume (V T) and frequency of respiration (ƒ), were expressed as a function of T oes. Results indicated the reproducibility criteria of Bland and Altman were met for the relationships between T oes and both \(V_{\text{E}} \cdot {V_{\text{O}_{\text{2}}}} ^{ - 1} \) and \(V_{\text{E}} \cdot {V_{\text{CO}_{\text{2}}}} ^{ - 1} \) as well as for relationships between T oes and each of V T and f. Intraclass correlation coefficients (R) for between-trial T oes thresholds for \(V_{\text{E}} \cdot {V_{\text{O}_{\text{2}}}} ^{ - 1} \) (R=0.91, P<0.05) and \(V_{\text{E}} \cdot {V_{\text{CO}_{\text{2}}}} ^{ - 1} \) (R=0.88, P<0.05) were also high and significant. In both trials, after T oes increased by ~0.3°C, V T demonstrated a distinct plateau point at a reproducible T oes (R=0.93, P<0.05) and ƒ demonstrated a distinct and reproducible T oes threshold (R=0.84, P<0.05). In conclusion, the results illustrate that for humans, ventilation has a significant and reproducible relationship with core temperature during incremental exercise.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. The authors would also like to thank Margaret Yetman for her dedicated assistance to this research project. These experiments followed applicable Canadian laws for research on human subjects

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  1. School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    A. Sancheti

  2. School of Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, V5A 1S6, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    M. D. White

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  1. A. Sancheti
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  2. M. D. White
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Correspondence to M. D. White.

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Sancheti, A., White, M. Reproducibility of relationships between human ventilation, its components and oesophageal temperature during incremental exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 96, 495–504 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-005-0101-9

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