Radiographic evidence of pulmonary edema during high-intensity interval training in women

The purpose was to determine if an intense interval training session could produce transient pulmonary edema in women. Fourteen females [(27 ± 4 years; body mass index of 21.6 ± 1.5 kg/m2); maximal oxygen consumption = 3.12 ± 0.42 L/min] performed three sets of 5 min sea-level cycling exercise with 10-min recovery between each set. Average oxygen consumption at minute 5 of each set was 96 ± 5% of maximum and arterial plasma lactate concentration at minute 5 of each set was 16.0 ± 3.3 mmol/L. Chest radiographs were obtained before and 33.2 ± 6.1 min after exercise. Four different chest radiologists independently reviewed the radiographs for edema, and scored seven validated radiographic characteristics on a three-point scale (0–2). The overall edema score increased from 1.3 ± 1.6 before exercise to 1.9 ± 2.0 after exercise [P < 0.05; Δ = +0.7 ± 1.8, 95% CI, 0.2 to +1.1]. This study shows that an intense interval training session can cause mild, detectable pulmonary edema in some women.