ArticleThe Journal of physiology2014
Maximal heart rate does not limit cardiovascular capacity in healthy humans: insight from right atrial pacing during maximal exercise.
Article in The Journal of physiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Vortex Dynamics and Energy Dissipation in Left Ventricular Diastolic Filling Across Diastolic Function Inflow Patterns: An In Vitro Quantitative Flow Analysis.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Females exhibit greater cardiac volume reductions with expiratory muscle loading during submaximal exercise compared to males.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Exercise echocardiography for improved assessment of diastolic filling dynamics.Experimental physiology · 2025Article
- The heart, a secondary organ in the control of blood circulation.Experimental physiology · 2025Review
- The unspecific control of cardiac output during exercise and in (patho-)physiology: Time to get more specific!Experimental physiology · 2025Article
- Limited matching of the cardiac output response to the peripheral demand of heat stress and exercise.Experimental physiology · 2025Article
- On the mechanisms of stress-induced human spleen contraction: training for a higher blood oxygen-carrying capacity.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Review
- Rate-adaptive pacing in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: Too much of a good thing?Heart rhythm O2 · 2024Article
- The cardiovascular changes underlying a low cardiac output with exercise in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Review
- Article
- Pulmonary ventilation and gas exchange during prolonged exercise in humans: Influence of dehydration, hyperthermia and sympathoadrenal activity.Experimental physiology · 2023Article
- No evidence for pericardial restraint in the snapping turtle (American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2022Article
- A Subject-Tailored Variability-Based Platform for Overcoming the Plateau Effect in Sports Training: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Review
- Sex and age interaction in fundamental circulatory volumetric variables at peak working capacity.Biology of sex differences · 2022Article
- Matching of OFrontiers in physiology · 2022Review
- Effect of Exercise-Induced Reductions in Blood Volume on Cardiac Output and Oxygen Transport Capacity.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Chronic cannabis consumption and physical exercise performance in healthy adults: a systematic review.Journal of cannabis research · 2020Review
- Contribution of oxygen extraction fraction to maximal oxygen uptake in healthy young men.Acta physiologica (Oxford, England) · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In humans, maximal aerobic power (VO2 max ) is associated with a plateau in cardiac output (Q), but the mechanisms regulating the interplay between maximal heart rate (HRmax) and stroke volume (SV) are unclear. To evaluate the effect of tachycardia and elevations in HRmax on cardiovascular function and capacity during maximal exercise in healthy humans, 12 young male cyclists performed incremental cycling and one-legged knee-extensor exercise (KEE) to exhaustion with and without right atrial pacing to increase HR. During control cycling, Q and leg blood flow increased up to 85% of maximal workload (WLmax) and remained unchanged until exhaustion. SV initially increased, plateaued and then decreased before exhaustion (P < 0.05) despite an increase in right atrial pressure (RAP) and a tendency (P = 0.056) for a reduction in left ventricular transmural filling pressure (LVFP). Atrial pacing increased HRmax from 184 ± 2 to 206 ± 3 beats min(-1) (P < 0.05), but Q remained similar to the control condition at all intensities because of a lower SV and LVFP (P < 0.05). No differences in arterial pressure, peripheral haemodynamics, catecholamines or VO2 were observed, but pacing increased the rate pressure product and RAP (P < 0.05). Atrial pacing had a similar effect on haemodynamics during KEE, except that pacing decreased RAP. In conclusion, the human heart can be paced to a higher HR than observed during maximal exercise, suggesting that HRmax and myocardial work capacity do not limit VO2 max in healthy individuals. A limited left ventricular filling and possibly altered contractility reduce SV during atrial pacing, whereas a plateau in LVFP appears to restrict Q close to VO2 max .
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.