-
Cardiopulmonary fitness is a measure of how heart, lungs and other tissues respond to exercise, and it is affected in approximately 50% of patients with advanced liver disease.
-
Reliable data has shown that the inactivity from staying in bed for 3 weeks makes the heart and lung look as if they have aged up to 30 years. As such, frequent admissions to the hospital severely affect cardiopulmonary fitness.
-
Cardiopulmonary fitness is commonly measured by a cardiorespiratory stress test.
-
This is similar to a cardiac stress test, but it also measures oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production.
-
When results from many studies performing this test in patients with liver disease were combined, it was found that oxygen consumption was greatly affected, corresponding to:
-
Almost half of what was expected for age and sex
-
An observed oxygen consumption similar to that of patients 15 to 30 years older.
-
-
-
As such, advanced liver disease gravely affects fitness causing heart and lungs to inappropriately respond to physical activity as if they were significantly older than actual age.