ABSTRACT
Cardiac output (Q) plays a central role in the delivery of oxygen to the working muscles but, due to problems associated with its measurement[1], data describing the Q responses of children to exercise are sparse[2-4]. It appears that at any given level of oxygen consumption ( https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> V ˙ O 2 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315025001/ca0a1b50-16e7-4532-9e85-fe2cd38f2327/content/inline-eqn638_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> ) Q may be as much as 1-2 L·min-1 lower in the young person than in the adult, largely due to the child’s lower stroke volume (SV) during both submaximal and maximal exercise[4-6]. Few studies have sought to examine the effects of body size and maturation on Q and sex differences have rarely been explored[4, 5, 7]. The present study was designed to examine the influence of sex and maturation on cardiac responses to exercise with body size controlled using allometric scaling techniques.
