Execution of the test:
- Record the patient’s body weight and resting heart rate
- Start the stop watch and have your patient bike at a wattage of 100 for females and 150 for males for 6 minutes, pedal frequency should be constant between 40-80 rpm (60 ideally)
- In the last minutes heart rate should be between 130 and 170 bpm and a steady state is required therefore the workload should be adjusted to above or below average performance only in the first two minutes
- Record your patient’s heart rate each minute
- After the 6 minutes, a short cool down can be performed by the patient
Outcome calculation
- Calculate the mean heart rate of the fifth and sixth minute
- Connect this HR average with the workload (Watts) by a straight line in the nomogram
- The predicted VO2max is read from the middle scale by looking at the intersection with your drawn line
- Adjust your results by multiplying your outcome with the age factor provided below:
|
Age in years |
Correction factor |
|
15 |
1.2 |
|
16 |
1.1 |
|
17-35 |
1.0 |
|
>35 |
0.87 |
| >40 |
0.83 |
| >45 |
0.78 |
| >50 |
0.75 |
| >55 |
0.71 |
- Compare the results with normative values (Heywood et al. 1998):
Females:
|
Age |
Very poor | Poor | Fair | Good | Excellent | Superior |
|
13-19 |
<25.0 | 25.0-30.9 | 31.0-34.9 | 35.0-38.9 | 39.0-41.9 | >41.9 |
| 20-29 | <23.6 | 23.6-28.9 | 29.0-32.9 | 33.0-36.9 | 37.0-41.0 |
>41.0 |
|
30-39 |
<22.8 | 22.8-26.9 | 27.0-31.4 | 31.5-35.6 | 35.7-40.0 |
>40.0 |
|
40-49 |
<21.0 | 21.0-24.4 | 24.5-28.9 | 29.0-32.8 | 32.9-36.9 |
>36.9 |
|
50-59 |
<20.2 | 20.2-22.7 | 22.8-26.9 | 27.0-31.4 | 31.5-35.7 |
>35.8 |
| 60+ | <17.5 | 17.5-20.1 | 20.2-24.4 | 24.5-30.2 | 30.3-31.4 |
>31.4 |
Males:
| Age | Very poor | Poor | Fair | Good | Excellent |
Superior |
|
13-19 |
<35.0 | 35.0-38.3 | 38.4-45.1 | 45.2-50.9 | 51.0-55.9 |
>55.9 |
|
20-29 |
<33.0 | 33.0-36.4 | 36.5-42.4 | 42.5-46.4 | 46.5-54.2 |
>54.2 |
|
30-39 |
<31.5 | 31.5-35.4 | 35.5-40.9 | 41.0-44.9 | 45.0-49.4 |
>49.4 |
|
40-49 |
<30.2 | 30.2-33.5 | 33.6-38.9 | 39.0-43.7 | 43.8-48.0 |
>48.0 |
|
50-59 |
<26.1 | 26.1-30.9 | 31.0-35.7 | 35.8-40.9 | 41.0-45.3 |
>45.3 |
|
60+ |
<20.5 | 20.5-26.0 | 26.1-32.2 | 32.3-36.4 | 36.5-44.2 |
>44.2 |
| Study |
Reliability |
Sn | Sp | LR+ |
LR- |
| Astrand et al. (1953) |
NA |
NA | NA | NA |
NA |
| Astrand et al. (1960) |
NA |
NA | NA | NA |
NA |
| Astrand et al. (2003) |
NA |
NA | NA | NA |
NA |
| Smeets et al. (2009): patients with musculoskeletal pain disorders |
Intra-class ICC = 0.79 |
NA | NA | NA |
NA |
| Smeets et al. (2009): Healthy population |
Intra-class ICC = 0.87 |
NA | NA | NA |
NA |
| Heywood et al. (1998) | |||||
| Comment: Astrand et al. (2003) mention that the Astrand bike test tends to over- or underestimate the actual VO2max by 15% in healthy individuals | |||||
