The objective of this study is the continuous measurement of blood oxygen saturation in athletes while performing an exercise stress test. The knowledge of the evolution of oxygen saturation during exercise could be a useful parameter for evaluating the improvement in sports performance. The continuous measurement of blood oxygen saturation by means of pulse oximetry requires less sophisticated apparatus than current measurements. The study was performed in 51 voluntary healthy athletes (25 males and 26 females). Measurements have been performed with two pulse oximeters, one commercial portable of last generation (Pulsos-3i of Minolta) and another one that is a prototype developed at the Institute of Microelectronics of Madrid, during a treadmill test and the recovery period. The results obtained with this type of measurements presented high correlation coefficients (r= 0.88) in both sexes between VO2 max and the time of duration of the test and between the time the second threshold appeared and the time in which the lowest value of saturation of oxygen in blood (r=0.87) appeared. This is of great interest because saturation of oxygen could be a value with future potential in the determination of the second ventilatory threshold.

Peer Reviewed