A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS COMPARING CARDIOPULMONARY EXERCISE TEST VALUES OBTAINED FROM THE ARM CYCLE AND THE LEG CYCLE RESPECTIVELY IN HEALTHY ADULTS.

INTRODUCTION

The cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) assesses maximal oxygen uptake (VO) and is commonly performed on a leg cycle ergometer (LC). However, some individuals would rather perform the CPET on an arm cycle ergometer (AC).

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this study were to undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis of the difference in VO achieved by AC compared to LC in healthy adults and to explore factors that may be predictive of this difference.

METHODS

MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PEDro were searched in April 2015. The differences in VO (ACLC) were pooled across studies using random effects meta-analysis and three different methods were used to estimate the ratio between the values obtained from the tests (ACLC).

RESULTS

This paper included 41 studies with a total of 581 participants. The mean ACLC across studies was 12.5 ml/kg/min and 0.89 l/min with a mean ACLC of 0.70. The ACLC was lower in studies with higher mean age and lower aerobic capacity.

CONCLUSION

There is linear association between the AC and LC values in healthy adults. The AC values were on average 70% of the LC values. The magnitude of this difference appeared to be reduced in studies on older and less active populations.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

3a.