Williams-Bell F Michael, Villar Rodrigo, Sharratt Michael T, Hughson Richard L
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Mar;41(3):653-62. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31818ad117.
The Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) is used by fire departments across North America to screen for minimal physical capabilities in potential candidates, but its physiological demands are unknown.
We examined oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide output (V x O2, V x CO2) and heart rate (HR) responses with the portable system in 57 subjects (23 females) who were familiarized before completing the CPAT in times similar to those of actual candidates. Two men and nine women failed to complete the circuit because of fatigue. Thirty-two men (91%) and four women (15%) completed the circuit under the criterion time (10 min 20 s) with mean completion times for men (8 min 32 s +/- 51 s) and women (11 min 16 s +/- 1 min 28 s, P < 0.05). For all finishers, V x O2 during the test was 38.5 and 36.6 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1), corresponding to 73% and 71% of V x O 2max for men and women, and HR was 90% and 91% of maximum (P > 0.05). RER averaged 1.02 for men and 0.97 for women suggesting elevated anaerobic metabolism. Women had a drop in RER after the second event, and they were significantly slower at each event after the step mill than the men. Prediction of circuit completion time by backward stepwise regression yielded models with absolute V x O 2max alone or relative V x O 2max plus body mass and handgrip strength accounting for more than 67% of the variance but with large errors of estimation exceeding 75 s.
The CPAT challenged both the aerobic and anaerobic energy supply systems, and the average V x O2 and HR were similar to reported values during firefighting simulations with incumbent firefighters.
北美各地的消防部门使用候选人体能测试（CPAT）来筛选潜在候选人的最低体能，但对其生理需求尚不清楚。
我们使用便携式系统对57名受试者（23名女性）进行了摄氧量和二氧化碳排出量（V̇O₂、V̇CO₂）以及心率（HR）反应的检测，这些受试者在完成CPAT之前进行了熟悉训练，所用时间与实际候选人相近。两名男性和九名女性因疲劳未能完成测试流程。32名男性（91%）和4名女性（15%）在标准时间（10分20秒）内完成了测试流程，男性的平均完成时间为（8分32秒±51秒），女性为（11分16秒±1分28秒，P<0.05）。对于所有完成测试的人，测试期间的V̇O₂分别为38.5和36.6 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹，分别相当于男性和女性V̇O₂max的73%和71%，HR分别为最大值的90%和91%（P>0.05）。男性的呼吸交换率（RER）平均为1.02，女性为0.97，表明无氧代谢增加。女性在第二项测试后RER下降，并且在台阶机测试后的每项测试中都明显比男性慢。通过向后逐步回归预测测试流程完成时间，得到的模型中，仅绝对V̇O₂max或相对V̇O₂max加上体重和握力可解释超过67%的方差，但估计误差较大，超过75秒。
CPAT对有氧和无氧能量供应系统都构成了挑战，平均V̇O₂和HR与在职消防员进行灭火模拟时报告的值相似。
