Breathing Reserve and Lung Function in Female Elite Runners

TL;DR

Female elite runners have a lower breathing reserve than untrained women, suggesting higher ventilatory demands during exercise.

Contribution

This study is the first to compare breathing reserve in female endurance athletes and controls, revealing sex-specific ventilatory differences.

Findings

Female elite runners had a significantly lower breathing reserve (5%) compared to controls (21%).

Lung function tests showed no differences between the two groups.

VO2max was moderately associated with breathing reserve in the studied population.

Abstract

Breathing reserve (BR) is the remaining proportion of achievable minute ventilation that remains unutilized at total exhaustion during exercise. Previous studies have found a smaller BR in endurance-trained athletes compared to untrained controls. However, most of these studies have examined men. Given that women have a greater ventilatory limitation than stature-matched men, the present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate how this sex difference influences BR and lung function tests in endurance-trained females compared to matched, untrained females. To obtain further insight, we also aimed to investigate whether VO2max serves as a predictor of BR. We examined 15 female elite runners and 15 healthy, matched female controls aged 24–33 years with regard to pulmonary function, MVV, VEmax, BR, and VO2max. The elite runner group had a median BR of 5%, while that of the controls was 21%, representing a significant difference. Lung function tests showed no differences between the two groups. A moderate association was found between VO2max and BR. The female elite runners demonstrated a lower BR than the group of matched, untrained controls, which was lower than that found for male elite athletes in previous studies. This may indicate a greater ventilatory demand in female relative to male endurance athletes.

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