This was a prospective, observational study to determine the correlation between the face scale RPE and HR, exercise load and V̇O2 during cardiopulmonary exercise. A total of 30 healthy college men and 21 healthy college were included. Subjects performed cardiopulmonary exercise tests with ramp exercise protocols to determine the V̇O2.18 (link) Each participant provided written informed consent after receiving information regarding the potential risks, study objectives, measurement techniques and benefits associated with the study. Our protocol consisted of a 4 min rest, 4 min warm-up, cardiopulmonary exercise and 2 min cool-down. A ramp programme with an incremental increase in workload of 20 W/min was employed using stationary bicycles (Aerobike 75XLIII; Konami, Tokyo, Japan) with ECG (DS-7520, Fukuda Denshi, Tokyo, Japan), and an exhaled gas analyzer (AE-310S; Minato Medical Science, Osaka, Japan). All subjects were instructed to maintain a cadence of 50 rotations per minute (rpm) during the cardiopulmonary exercise test. Exhaustion was defined as follows19 (link) (1): a plateau in oxygen consumption (VO2); (2) respiratory exchange ratio >1.1; (3) HR values near the age-predicted maximal heart rate, calculated as 220 – (0.65×age); and (4) a decrease in the cycling cadence to <50 rpm, despite strong verbal encouragement. The highest value obtained for V̇O2 was considered the V̇O2 peak. We evaluated HR using ECG, exercise load (watts) and V̇O2 using an exhaled gas analyzer every minute during cardiopulmonary exercise test and at the end of the exercise test. All subjects were asked ‘how hard you feel you are working’ using the face scale RPE and their responses were recorded (figure 1 ). Additionally, we determined anaerobic thresholds (ATs) using the V-slope method during the cardiopulmonary exercise tests.20 (link)
The outcomes were reported as a mean and SD or median. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients (ρ) were calculated to evaluate the correlation between the face scale RPE and HR, watts, and V̇O2 every minute during the cardiopulmonary exercise tests. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS V.19.0J. P values<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
The outcomes were reported as a mean and SD or median. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients (ρ) were calculated to evaluate the correlation between the face scale RPE and HR, watts, and V̇O2 every minute during the cardiopulmonary exercise tests. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS V.19.0J. P values<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
