Determining the Best Ventilatory Efficiency Measure to Predict Mortality in Patients with Heart Failure

Peak and sub-maximal measures of ventilatory efficiency were not equivalent, and the VE/VCO2 slope to peak exercise was the best predictor of mortality in patients with heart failure. Thus, the prognostic power of ventilatory efficiency is enhanced when exercise extends beyond the ventilatory threshold and includes all of the available exercise data.