Ventilatory response to exerice in men and women 55 to 86 years of age

This study examines the relationship between minute ventilation (VE) and carbon dioxide production (VCO 2 ) during exercise in men (n=128) and women (n=96), 55 to 86 yr of age. The means for the slopes of VE-VCO 2 (ΔVE/ΔVCO 2 ), examined for graded exercise below the ventilation threshold (TVE), increased significantly for men (p<0.0001), from 25.0±0.7 (SEM) at mean age 58 (55 to 59) yr to 32.2±1.8 at mean age 83 (80 to 86) yr, but did not change for women (p=0.0812), from 22.3± 0.9 at mean age 58 (56-59) yr to 24.2±2.4 at mean age 79 (75 to 85) yr. A correlation that was significantly greater than zero was found between ΔVE/ΔVCO 2 and age