Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Is Well Tolerated in People With Alzheimer-Related Cognitive Impairment

ObjectiveTo retrospectively assess whether cardiopulmonary exercise testing would be well tolerated in individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD) compared with a nondemented peer group.DesignWe retrospectively reviewed 575 cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPETs) in individuals with and without cognitive impairment caused by AD.SettingUniversity medical center.ParticipantsExercise tests (N=575) were reviewed for nondemented individuals (n=340) and those with AD-related cognitive impairment (n=235).InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasuresThe main outcome measure for this study was reporting the reason for CPET termination. The hypothesis reported was formulated after data collection.ResultsWe found that in cognitively impaired individuals, CPETs were terminated because of fall risk more often, but that overall test termination was infrequent—5.5% versus 2.1% (P=.04) in peers without cognitive impairment. We recorded 6 cardiovascular and 7 fall risk events in those with AD, compared with 7 cardiovascular and 0 fall risk events in those without cognitive impairment.ConclusionsOur findings support using CPETs to assess peak oxygen consumption in older adults with cognitive impairment caused by AD.