Recumbent Ergometer vs Treadmill Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test in HFpEF: Implications for Chronotropic Response and Exercise Capacity.

Background: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) can identify mechanisms of exercise intolerance in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but exercise modalities with differing body positions (eg, recumbent ergometer, treadmill) are broadly used. In this study, we aimed to determine whether body position affects CPET parameters in patients with HFpEF.

Methods: Subjects with stable HFpEF (n = 23) underwent noninvasive treadmill CPET, followed by an invasive recumbent-cycle ergometer CPET within 3 months.