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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.

Sec. Exercise Physiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1580308

This article is part of the Research TopicCardiopulmonary and Peripheral Responses and Adaptations to Strength TrainingView all articles

Cross-sectional Study on Exercise Capacity in Obese Patients with Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Provisionally accepted
Mei  ShengruiMei Shengrui1Zhou  YueZhou Yue1Wu  WenjunWu Wenjun2Cui  XiaochuanCui Xiaochuan1Cai  junyanCai junyan3*Yuan  PengYuan Peng1*Deng  ShukunDeng Shukun1*
  • 1Wuxi People's Hospital, Wuxi, China
  • 2Jinshan Branch of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China
  • 3Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objective:To explore the exercise capacity in obese patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome(OSAS) through cardiopulmonary exercise test(CPET) . Methods: In this cross-sectional study,patients with simple obesity (36 cases) and obese patients with severe OSAS (45 cases) admitted to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Department of General Practice of the Affiliated Wuxi People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from September 2019 to January 2024 were collected. Additionally, we included 33 patients (BMI<28kg/m²,AHI<5/hour) as a control group. All participants underwent CPET and polysomnography monitoring. The differences of polysomnography and CPET among the three groups were compared. To evaluate the correlation between AHI and the observed indexes. Results: No significant differences were observed in the proportion of men and women, age, height, exercise habit among the three groups (P > 0.05). In terms of the cardiopulmonary exercise test indexes,there were no statistically significant differences among the three groups of patients in VO2AT, while there were statistically significant differences in VO2AT%Pred and VO2AT/kg. Similar results were observed for maximum oxygen consumption, with no statistically significant differences in VO2peak among the three groups, but statistically significant differences in VO2peak%Pred and VO2peak/kg. There were statistically significant differences among the three groups of patients in HRmax ,HRmax%Pred, HRr, VO2/HRmax, and VO2/HRmax %Pred. The correlation analysis indicated that AHI was positively correlated with TS < 90%,VO2/HRmax, BMI and negatively correlated with sleep efficiency,minSO2, mean SO2 ,VO2AT%Pred, VO2AT/kg, VO2peak%Pred, VO2peak/kg, HRmax, HRmax%Pred,HRr, VO2/HRmax%Pred, WRmax%Pred, and VEmax%Pred. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses showed that AHI was significantly negatively associated with multiple indicators of the cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). In the univariate model, for every 1-unit increase in AHI, all CPET indicators decreased significantly (p< 0.01). After adjusting for confounding factors such as gender, age, exercise habits, smoking history, hypertension and diabetes, the multivariate model still maintained significant correlations. Conclusion Severe OSAS, as a severe complication of obesity, further exacerbates the decline in exercise capacity among obese patients, with the extent of impairment positively correlated with AHI values.

Keywords: Obesity1, Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome 2, Cardiopulmonary exercise test3, Exercise capacity 4, VO2peak%Pred 5

Received: 20 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Shengrui, Yue, Wenjun, Xiaochuan, junyan, Peng and Shukun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Cai junyan, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China
Yuan Peng, Wuxi People's Hospital, Wuxi, China
Deng Shukun, Wuxi People's Hospital, Wuxi, China

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