Estimation of peak oxygen pulse from body mass, resting heart rate, age, gender and systolic blood pressure in Chinese adults aged 20-39.

Background: Peak oxygen pulse (OP) can reflect the condition of cardiovascular function and provide supplementary information for maximal oxygen uptake, but its direct measurement requires the precise instruments under the guidance of professionals, and the subjects should strive to the state of exhaustion.

Objectives: The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to establish a prediction equation to estimate OP of Chinese adults aged 20-39, from routine measures of anthropometry and cardiovascular function.

Methods: 252 adults (20-39 years old) were recruited and randomly allocated to the validation group (n = 226) and the cross-validation group (n = 26). To be included in the study, subjects were required to be healthy, none-professional sports experience (healthy individuals who are not athletes or have had experience as athletes), and no medication taken recently. Subjects with cardiovascular diseases, lung disease and musculoskeletal diseases were excluded. The subjects' anthropometric and cardiovascular variables were measured and each subject performed a maximal exercise test on an electromagnetic cycle ergometer.

Results: The OP estimated equation was developed using multiple linear regression models, OP = 30.394 + 0.083 x body mass (kg) - 0.090 x resting heart rate (bpm) - 0.157 x age (years) - 2.710 x gender (1 = male, 2 = female) - 0.035 x systolic blood pressure (mmHg). The equation had the coefficient of determination (R) = 0.804 and the standard error of estimate (SEE) = 1.619 ml/beat. An ANOVA and Akaike's information criterion (AIC) were tested. Bland-Altman graphs were plotted to examine the distribution of bias. Cross-validation estimated OP and directly measured OP did not show significant difference while had a strong positive correlation (r = 0.89,  < 0.001).

Conclusions: The established equation has high effectiveness and reliability to predict OP of adults aged 20-39.