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Oxygen uptake in respiratory muscles greater in women during exercise

Respiratory muscles need a greater amount of oxygen in women than men during exercise, according to study results.

“Our findings are important because they show that the metabolic cost of breathing during exercise is higher in healthy young women,” researcher A. William Sheel, PhD, of the University of British Columbia, said in a press release. “Our findings suggest that if women have a greater oxygen cost of breathing, they likely dedicate a greater amount of blood flow toward their respiratory muscles during maximal exercise.”

A. William Sheel

Sheel and colleagues conducted a study on nine healthy men and nine healthy women to determine their breathing patterns during exercise and to see if their oxygen uptake values differed. Each participant completed 4 days of testing; a day of maximal cycle exercise, a preparation day and two days of experimental treatment.

At peak exercise, men had greater absolute and relative oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide output, tidal volume and expired minute ventilation (P < .05).

At maximal exercise, oxygen uptake of the respiratory muscles represented 13.8% of whole body oxygen uptake in women and 9.4% in men (P < .05).

“Overall, our findings indicate that the oxygen cost of exercise hyperpnea is greater in healthy women than in healthy men, but neither sex readily achieves maximal effective ventilation,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: Dominelli reports receiving support from a graduate scholarship from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.