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Laktatbestimmungen zur arbeits- und sozialmedizinischen Abschätzung des körperlichen Restleistungsvermögens bei Patienten mit Atemwegs- und Lungenerkrankungen

Introduction and aims: In order to determine a person’s physical capacity, spiroergometric assay of the respiratory quotient (RQ) is a common tool in occupational medicine. Our aim in the present study was to determine whether the use of the blood lactate concentration, which is common in sports medicine, can also be validated for determination of performance loss in patients.

Methods: During spiroergometric tests on 744 patients with different diseases, mostly of the lungs and airways, both the respiratory (RQ = 1) and the metabolic anaerobic threshold (blood lactate concentration = 4 mmol/L) were determined.

Results: The work capacity ranged between 25 and 150 watt with a mean value of 100 watt. About 40 % of the individuals examined exceeded the respiratory threshold and the metabolic anaerobic threshold. There were no significant differences between patients with various categories of diseases. Although the respiratory anaerobic threshold was exceeded at an average work capacity approximately 25 watts lower, the two parameters were relatively well correlated (r = 0.75).

Discussion and conclusions: Because of the conceivable confounding factors in the determination of both the respiratory threshold and the metabolic anaerobic threshold, an assessment using a combination of both methods can be regarded as optimum.