Peak oxygen consumption in older adults with a lower limb amputation.

Abstract Wezenberg D, de Haan A, Faber WX, Slootman HJ, van der Woude LH, Houdijk H. Peak oxygen consumption in older adults with a lower limb amputation. Objective To investigate whether the aerobic capacity of older adults who underwent a lower limb amputation is associated with the presence, cause (traumatic or vascular), and level of amputation (transtibial or transfemoral). Design Cross-sectional descriptive. Setting Human motion laboratory at a rehabilitation center. Participants Older subjects (n=36) who underwent lower limb amputation and age-matched, able-bodied controls (n=21). All subjects were able to walk for a minimum of 4 minutes. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure Peak oxygen consumption (Vo 2 peak ) was measured using open-circuit respirometry while performing a discontinuous, graded, 1-legged, peak cycle exercise test. Results After correcting for age, body mass index, and sex, the multiple linear regression analysis revealed that subjects who underwent amputation had a 13.1% lower aerobic capacity compared with able-bodied controls ( P =.021). Differentiation among etiologies revealed that subjects with a vascular amputation had a lower Vo 2 peak of 29.1% compared with able-bodied controls ( P P =.127). After correcting for etiology, no association between level of amputation and Vo 2 peak was found ( P =.534). Conclusions Older adults who underwent an amputation because of vascular deficiency had a lower aerobic capacity compared with able-bodied controls and people with a traumatic amputation. The level of amputation was not associated with Vo 2 peak .