Does COV-19 impair V̇O2peak in pts with cardiorespiratory disease? Insight from cardiopulmonary responses to max exercise pre and post-illness, 2023

Abstract
Reduced exercise capacity has been suggested as a cardinal sequela of COVID-19. However, only cross-sectional approaches that either do not consider individuals with concomitant cardiorespiratory disease or account for exercise capacity before infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) support this assumption.

We retrospectively reviewed CPET data collected across three hospitals between October 2018 and March 2022. Forty-two patients who completed a CPET before and after COVID-19 and 25 patients who performed two separate CPETs but did not contract COVID-19 (CTL) were included.

Within each patient, the same test protocol was performed at the first and second CPETs. The time between CPETs was similar between the groups (COVID-19 489 ± 534 vs. CTL 534 ± 257 days, P = 0.662). The COVID-19 group performed the CPETs 312 ± 232 days before and 176 ± 110 days after infection. Exercise time, peak heart rate, peak systolic pressure, oxygen uptake (V̇O2) at anaerobic threshold, peak ventilation, and ventilatory efficiency were not different between the CPETs in both groups. Peak V̇O2 was reduced from before to after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the change in V̇O2peak from the first to the second CPET was not different between COVID-19 vs. CTL. Accounting for V̇O2peak before COVID-19 and including a group of control patients, we find limited evidence for reduced exercise capacity as a sequela of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with concomitant cardiorespiratory disease.

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00357.2023