Recalibrated FRIEND equation for peak oxygen pulse is accurate in endurance athletes: the NOODLE study

Abstract

Abstract Peak oxygen pulse (O2Ppeak) is an important index of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). The FRIEND database is a global source of reference values for CRF. However, no reference equation is tailored for endurance athletes (EA) to predict O2Ppeak. Here, we adjusted the well-established FRIEND equation for O2Ppeak to the characteristics of the EA population. 32 (34.0%) female EA and 62 (66.0%) male well-trained EA underwent maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test on a treadmill. V̇O2max was 4.5 ± 0.5 L min−1 in males and 3.1 ± 0.4 L min−1 in females. O2Ppeak was 23.6 ± 2.8 mL beat−1 and 16.4 ± 2.0 mL beat−1 for males and females, respectively. Firstly, we externally validated the original FRIEND equation. Secondly, using multiple linear regression, we adjusted the FRIEND equation for O2Ppeak to the population of EA. The original FRIEND equation underestimated O2Ppeak for 2.9 ± 2.9 mL beat−1 (P < .001) in males and 2.2 ± 2.1 mL beat−1 (P < .001) in females. The updated equation was 1.36 + 1.07 (23.2 · 0.09 · age − 6.6 [if female]). The new equation explained 62% of the variance and significantly predicted O2Ppeak (R2 = 0.62, β = 0.78, P < .001). The error of the EA-adjusted model was 0.1 ± 2.9 mL beat−1 (P = .82) and 0.2 ± 2.1 mL beat−1 (P = .65) for males and females respectively. Recalibration of the original FRIEND equation significantly enhances its accuracy among EA. The error of the EA-adjusted model was negligible. A new recalibrated equation should be used to predict O2Ppeak in the population of EA.

Keywords

• Peak oxygen pulse
• Endurance athletes
• Cardiopulmonary exercise test
• Cardiorespiratory fitness
• Reference values
• O2pulse