Exercise performance in those having Parkinson's disease and healthy normals

Objective: This study assessed and compared the cardiopulmonary function of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) with that of healthy normals (HN ) in order to provide health professionals with more thorough information a bout the problems associated with PD. Methods: 20 men (PD = 13, HN = 7; mea n age 64 and 64, respectively) and 23 women (PD = 7, HN = 16; mean age 65 a nd 66, respectively) were recruited from the Houston metropolitan area. Max imal oxygen consumption ((V) over dot O-2max, mL.kg(-1).min(-1)) and time t o maximal exercise in minutes (time(max)) were measured. Exercise was perfo rmed on a stationary bicycle using an incremental exercise protocol. Becaus e the assumption of homogeneity of variance was not met for the dependent v ariable (V) over dot O-2max in women, the nonparametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitn ey-U analysis was used (alpha less than or equal to 0.025). All other group comparisons were analyzed using an independent t-test (alpha less than or equal to 0.025). Results: For men and women, there were no significant diff erences in (V) over dot O-2max between those having PD and the HN (men: PD = 23.52 vs HN = 25.46 mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P = 0.50; women: PD = 20.10 vs HN = 16.20 mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P = 0.35). Likewise, there was no significant di fferences in time,, between women (PD = 5.2 vs HN = 5.4 min, P = 0.20). Com parison of time(max) between men did show a significant difference (PD = 9. 5 vs HN = 13.10 min, P = 0.02). Conclusions: Although there were no signifi cant differences in (V) over dot O-2max between the men: the comparison of time(max) indicates those with PD were unable to exercise as long before re aching (V) over dot O-2max, indicating that individuals with PD may be less efficient during exercise and therefore unable to exercise as long before reaching (V) over dot O-2max. Although women with PD had a higher (V) over dot O-2max, comparisons of (V) over dot O-2max and time(max) between those with PD and HN resulted in no significant differences.