Association between ventilatory efficiency, oxygen uptake, and Glittre-ADL test results in patients with chronic heart failure: a preliminary study.

Eight patients with CHF and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification II-III underwent the GA-T coupled with metabolic gas analysis to obtain data by means of telemetry. The median total GA-T time was 00:04:39 (00:03:29-00:05:53). Borg dyspnoea scale scores before and after the GA-T were 2 (0-9) and 3 (1-10), respectively (P = 0.011). The relationship between the regression slope relating minute ventilation to carbon dioxide output (VE/VCO2 slope) was correlated with the total GA-T time (rs = 0.714, P = 0.047) and Borg dyspnoea score (rs = 0.761, P = 0.028). The other ventilatory variables showed no significant correlations. Our results suggest that the total GA-T time can be applied to estimate the ventilatory efficiency of patients with CHF. Future studies may use the GA-T in conjunction with other functional capacity tests to guide the treatment plan and evaluate the prognosis.