TY - JOUR
TI - Effects of Pre-Term Birth on the Cardio-Respiratory Responses to Hypoxic
Exercise in Children
AU - Narang, Benjamin J.
AU - Manferdelli, Giorgio
AU - Kepic, Katja and
AU - Sotiridis, Alexandros
AU - Osredkar, Damjan
AU - Bourdillon, Nicolas and
AU - Millet, Gregoire P.
AU - Debevec, Tadej
JO - LIFE-BASEL
PY - 2022
VL - 12
TODO - 1
SP - null
PB - MDPI
SN - null
TODO - 10.3390/life12010079
TODO - altitude; children; exercise capacity; hypoxia; prematurity
TODO - Pre-term birth is associated with numerous cardio-respiratory sequelae
in children. Whether these impairments impact the responses to exercise
in normoxia or hypoxia remains to be established. Fourteen
prematurely-born (PREM) (Mean +/- SD; gestational age 29 +/- 2 weeks;
age 9.5 +/- 0.3 years), and 15 full-term children (CONT) (gestational
age 39 +/- 1 weeks; age 9.7 +/- 0.9 years), underwent incremental
exercise tests to exhaustion in normoxia (FiO(2) = 20.9%) and
normobaric hypoxia (FiO(2) = 13.2%) on a cycle ergometer.
Cardio-respiratory variables were measured throughout. Peak power output
was higher in normoxia than hypoxia (103 +/- 17 vs. 77 +/- 18 W; p <
0.001), with no difference between CONT and PREM (94 +/- 23 vs. 86 +/-
19 W; p = 0.154). VO(2)peak was higher in normoxia than hypoxia in CONT
(50.8 +/- 7.2 vs. 43.8 +/- 9.9 mL center dot kg(-1)center dot min(-1); p
< 0.001) but not in PREM (48.1 +/- 7.5 vs. 45.0 +/- 6.8 mL center dot
kg(-1)center dot min(-1); p = 0.137; interaction p = 0.044). Higher peak
heart rate (187 +/- 11 vs. 180 +/- 10 bpm; p = 0.005) and lower stroke
volume (72 +/- 13 vs. 77 +/- 14 mL; p = 0.004) were observed in normoxia
versus hypoxia in CONT, with no such differences in PREM (p = 0.218 and
>0.999, respectively). In conclusion, premature birth does not appear to
exacerbate the negative effect of hypoxia on exercise capacity in
children. Further research is warranted to identify whether prematurity
elicits a protective effect, and to clarify the potential underlying
mechanisms.
ER -