Diffusion capacity in children: what happens with exercise?

SummaryThere is comparatively little data on diffusion capacity in children during exercise. With the advent of improved technology, there is an increasing interest in exercise testing of children in order to predict the evolution of lung disease. In addition to the standard measure of exercise capacity, the VO2max, interest is evolving in the consequences of alterations in diffusion capacity which may be unmasked with exercise. This review will consider what is known about diffusion capacity with exercise in children with well documented lung disease in the form of cystic fibrosis, healthy controls and swimmers as elite athletes with the largest lung volumes.