Benevides Panassollo, Tone RicardoLord, SueRashid, UsmanTaylor, DeniseMawston, Grant2024-11-122024-11-122024-04-29European Journal of Applied Physiology, ISSN: 1439-6319 (Print); 1439-6327 (Online), Springer, 124(9), 2799-2807. doi: 10.1007/s00421-024-05492-51439-63191439-6327http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18285PURPOSE: Heart rate (HR) response is likely to vary in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), particularly for those with chronotropic incompetence (CI). This study explores the impact of CI on HR and metabolic responses during cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) in people with PD, and its implications for exercise intensity prescription. METHODS: Twenty-eight participants with mild PD and seventeen healthy controls underwent CPET to identify the presence or absence of CI. HR and metabolic responses were measured at submaximal (first (VT1) and second (VT2) ventilatory thresholds), and at peak exercise. Main outcome measures were HR, oxygen consumption (VO2), and changes in HR responses (HR/WR slope) to an increase in exercise demand. RESULTS: CI was present in 13 (46%) PD participants (PDCI), who during CPET, exhibited blunted HR responses compared to controls and PD non-CI beyond 60% of maximal workload (p ≤ 0.05). PDCI presented a significantly lower HR at VT2, and peak exercise compared to PD non-CI and controls (p ≤ 0.001). VO2 was significantly lower in PDCI than PD non-CI and controls at VT2 (p = 0.003 and p = 0.036, respectively) and at peak exercise (p = 0.001 and p = 0.023, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although poorly understood, the presence of CI in PD and its effect on HR and metabolic responses during incremental exercise is significant and important to consider when programming aerobic exercises.Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Cardiopulmonary exercise testExercise prescriptionHeart rateOxygen consumptionCardiopulmonary exercise testExercise prescriptionHeart rateOxygen consumption42 Health Sciences4207 Sports Science and ExercisePhysical ActivityNeurosciencesClinical Trials and Supportive ActivitiesParkinson's DiseaseBrain DisordersClinical ResearchAgingNeurodegenerative2.1 Biological and endogenous factorsNeurological1106 Human Movement and Sports SciencesSport Sciences3202 Clinical sciences3208 Medical physiology4207 Sports science and exerciseHumansParkinson DiseaseMaleFemaleHeart RateOxygen ConsumptionMiddle AgedAgedExerciseExercise TestHumansParkinson DiseaseExercise TestExerciseOxygen ConsumptionHeart RateAgedMiddle AgedFemaleMaleHumansParkinson DiseaseMaleFemaleHeart RateOxygen ConsumptionMiddle AgedAgedExerciseExercise TestJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1007/s00421-024-05492-5