Oxygen consumption during rest, body mass index, and metabolic parameters of stroke patients

Abstract

Objective. To investigate whether there were significant correlations between measures of oxygen consumption at rest (O2rest) in the sit­ting and lying positions with body mass index (BMI) and cardiore­spiratory parameters (heart rate-HR and respiratory rate exchange - RER) in chronic stroke subjects. Method. The O2rest and cardio­respiratory parameters were evaluated by the computerized portable system of open-circuit spirometry (MetaMax®3B, Cortex, Germany) in both positions. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to verify the associations between the investigated variables. Results. Thirty-seven chronic stroke subjects were included (54% men) with a mean age of 60±14 years and a mean time since the onset of the stroke of 32±11. In the sitting position, positive and fair correlation was found between the O2rest and RER (rs=0.39; p<0.02). There were not found any significant correlations between O2rest, BMI, and HR (0.09<rs<0.14; 0.41<p<0.59). In the lying position, no significant correlations were found between O2rest and the other investigated variables (0.03<rs<0.14; 0.43<p<0.85). Conclusions. There was a correlation between O2rest and RER were found only in the sitting position. In this sense, the oxygen consumption at rest in the sitting position appears to be more related to respiratory than to cardiac mea­sures (HR).