Association between inspiratory muscle weakness and slowed oxygen uptake kinetics in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may have poor inspiratory muscle function, which reduces minute and alveolar ventilation, leading to increased hypoxemia and slow pulmonary oxygen uptake kinetics. However, little is known about the effect of inspiratory muscle weakness (IMW) on oxygen uptake kinetics in patients with COPD. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that COPD patients with IMW have slowed oxygen uptake kinetics.