Poor Reliability of Heart Rate Monitoring to Assess Oxygen Uptake During Field Training

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantify the error associated with the assessment of oxygen uptake (V·O₂) by heart rate (HR) monitoring in 15 athletes freely performing their training session. A laboratory-derived equation was used on the running track to calculate V·O₂ (V·O_2est) from HR. Oxygen uptake was also assessed by means of a portable gas analyzer (V·O_2real). Bland and Altman statistics were carried out in order to evaluate agreement between V·O_2real and V·O_2est. The excess in carbon dioxide production (CO_2excess) was measured to test the hypothesis that the subject with the highest CO_2excess had the highest V·O_2est - V·O_2real difference. V·O_2real was on average 0.14 l · min^-1 below V·O_2est. The limits of agreement of this difference were between + 0.77 and - 0.48 l · min^-1. Thus, on average V·O_2real was overestimated by V·O_2est. Spearman non-parametric statistics found a significant correlation between CO_2excess and V·O_2est - V·O_2real difference (R = 0.55, p = 0.031). This study demonstrates that the use of HR monitoring to assess V·O₂ during field training overestimates V·O_2real, especially when a substantial increase in CO_2excess occurs. Therefore, this method should be used with care when an excessive amount of CO₂ is produced as occurs in activities that involve the lactic acid anaerobic source of energy production.

Energy expenditure - carbon dioxide excess - exercise - telemetry - cardiovascular regulation

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