Oxygen Cost and Efficiency of Respiratory System in Hypoxia and in Congestive Heart Failure

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The oxygen cost of increased ventilation and the "efficiency of the respiratory system" were measured in 9 normal subjects and 20 patients with cardiac disease and clinical evidence of congestive heart failure. The oxygen cost of increased ventilation rose, and the efficiency of the respiratory system fell in normal subjects when they breathed a hypoxic gas mixture. The oxygen cost of increased ventilation was high and "the efficiency of the respiratory system" low in patients with cardiac disease and clinical evidence of conjestive heart failure. It is suggested that the "added work" and the efficiency may be underestimated in this condition. The presence of hypoxia results in a rise of the oxygen cost of increased ventilation and a fall in "the efficiency of the respiratory system.".