ArticleChest2026
When to Best Assess Breathlessness Abnormality During Incremental Cardiopulmonary Cycle Exercise Testing.
Article in Chest, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Electrocardiogram heart rate variability for machine learning diagnosis of obstructive sleep Apnoea: A bayesian meta-analysis.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2025Pooled it
- Anxiety and depression impact exertional breathlessness in daily life and during exercise testing: the CanCOLD study.ERJ open research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBreathlessness on exertion is a common, distressing, and limiting symptom that can be quantified on incremental cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) using normative reference equations. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is the breathlessness abnormality best uncovered and assessed at symptom limitation (peak exercise) compared with submaximal exercise intensities? STUDY DESIGN AND
methodsThis was an analysis of people ≥ 40 years of age undergoing symptom-limited incremental cycle CPET in the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease (CanCOLD) study. Each Borg 0-10 category ratio scale breathlessness intensity rating during CPET was converted to its probability of being normal, in relation to power output, rate of oxygen uptake, and minute ventilation using normative reference equations. Abnormally high exertional breathlessness (abnormal breathlessness) was defined as a probability of being normal < 0.05.
resultsOf 1,161 participants (42% female), abnormally high breathlessness was present in 22%, 23%, and 16% in relation to rate of oxygen uptake and minute ventilation at peak exercise. Among those with abnormal breathlessness at peak exercise, 55% to 60% had normal breathlessness across all submaximal exercise intensities. Among those with normal breathlessness at peak exercise, 93% to 97% were normal across all serial breathlessness ratings throughout the CPET (interclass correlation coefficients, 0.93-0.95). Findings were similar in people with or without chronic airflow limitation, and in people who did or did not reach maximal exertion at the end (symptom limitation) of the CPET.
interpretationThe results of this study suggest that abnormal breathlessness is uncovered and should be assessed at peak exercise during symptom-limited incremental CPET. These findings inform symptom assessment in research and clinical practice.
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