Pre-term birth can induce life-long pulmonary system sequelae and compromise ventilatory control. While blunted hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) is consistently reported in pre-term infants, it remains unclear if HVR impairment persists with aging. This study investigated potential differences in HVR responses during both rest and exercise between pre-term born adults and their age matched full-term controls. Our data indicate that in prematurely born individuals, the blunted hypoxic ventilatory response at rest persists into adulthood. Interestingly, reduced ventilatory response to hypoxia is not evident during moderate intensity exercise.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30247975
Reduced exercise capacity is often reported in individuals born prematurely. However, the potential influence of hypoxia on exercise performance in pre-term individuals is currently unresolved. This study compared the effects of hypoxia on maximal aerobic power between pre-term born adults and their age and peak oxygen uptake matched controls born at full-term. The obtained results show that hypoxia provokes similar relative reduction in maximal aerobic power and submaximal ventilatory threshold in healthy pre-term and full-term born adults with comparable peak oxygen consumption levels. These data further suggest that exercising in normobaric hypoxia does not exert higher ventilatory and metabolic load in otherwise healthy individuals born prematurely.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30248231