Reproducibility of Muscle Oxygen Saturation

Abstract

The present study evaluated the reproducibility of tissue oxygenation in relation to oxygen consumption (VO₂) across cycle exercise intensities in a test-retest design. 12 subjects (25.7±2.1 years; 24.7±1.9 kg · m⁻²) twice performed an incremental bicycle exercise protocol, while tissue oxygen saturation (StO₂) in the vastus lateralis muscle was monitored by a commercially available NIRS unit and VO₂ determined by an open-circuit indirect calorimetric system. Coefficients of variation across rest, workloads corresponding to 25, 50 and 75% of individual maximum capacity, and maximum load were 5.8, 4.6, 6.1, 8.0, 11.0% (StO₂) and 7.6, 6.0, 3.7, 3.4, 3.1% (VO₂), respectively. 95 % CI of relative test-retest differences ranged from −5.6 to +5.4% at 25% load to −17.2 to +7.5% at maximum load for StO₂ and from −7.3 to +7.7% at rest to −3.3 to +3.2% at maximum load for VO₂. With advancing exercise intensity, within-subject variability of StO₂ was augmented, whereas VO₂ variability slightly attenuated. NIRS measurements at higher workloads need to be interpreted with caution.

Key words

measurement error - reliability - near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) - muscle oxygen saturation - oxygen consumption

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