Novel exercise protocol suitable for use on a treadmill or a bicycle ergometer.

Abstract

Many exercise protocols are in use in clinical cardiology, but no single test is applicable to the wide range of patients' exercise capacity. A new protocol was devised that starts at a low workload and increases by 15% of the previous workload every minute. This is the first protocol to be based on exponential rather than linear increments in workload. The new protocol (standardised exponential exercise protocol, STEEP) is suitable for use on either a treadmill or a bicycle ergometer. This protocol was compared with standard protocols in 30 healthy male volunteers, each of whom performed four exercise tests: the STEEP treadmill and bicycle protocols, a modified Bruce treadmill protocol, and a 20 W/min bicycle protocol. During the two STEEP tests the subjects' oxygen consumption rose gradually and exponentially and there was close agreement between the bicycle and the treadmill protocols. A higher proportion of subjects completed the treadmill than the bicycle protocol. Submaximal heart rates were slightly higher during the bicycle test. The STEEP protocol took less time than the modified Bruce treadmill protocol, which tended to produce plateaux in oxygen consumption during the early stages. The 20 W/min bicycle protocol does not take account of subjects' body weight and consequently produced large intersubject variability in oxygen consumption. The STEEP protocol can be used on either a treadmill or a bicycle ergometer and it should be suitable for a wide range of patients.

Placebo‐controlled comparison of candoxatril, an orally active neutral endopeptidase inhibitor, and captopril in patients with chronic heart failure

“…The mean change in body weight after 12 weeks candoxatril therapy relative to placebo was -0.3 kg (CI, -2.1 to + 1.6 kg corrected). Captopril therapy resulted in a mean change of -0.7 kg (CI, -2.5 to + 1.2 kg corrected) compared to placebo.…”

“…All exercise tests were performed using the STEEP protocol: I-min stages,starting at a low workload (2 METS) and increasing gradually by 15% per stage [12]. Patients exercised to their symptomlimited maximum.…”

“…Exercise time increased in both active treatment groups, and did not change in the placebo group, but there was no statistically significant difference between the treatments (ANOV A P = 0.28). The mean increase in exercise duration after 12 …”

Contribution of Myocardial Perfusion’s Tomoscintigraphy in the Management of Coronarian Disease in Senegal: About 42 Cases

“…The stress test was performed on a treadmill according to the Bruce protocol. Pharmacological stress was not used in our study [5]. Tomographic acquisitions were carried out 15 to 30 minutes after injection of the radiotracer using a dual head TEMP (2007) gamma camera equipped with the Interview XP software with a LEHR (Low Energy High Resolution) collimator.…”

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“…16 An age-and sex-determined incremental ramp protocol was applied. 17 Participants exercised to the point of maximum effort. 3 Blood pressure was recorded at 2-minute intervals during exercise and for 6 minutes into recovery using a brachial cuff and sphygmomanometer.…”