Ventilation may limit exercise. Wearing a gas mask may further compromise ventilation. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) improves ventilation by reducing airway resistance and thus the work of breathing. We investigated the effects of wearing a gas mask with and without CPAP on the work of breathing (WOB) during resting and exercise conditions to determine (a) whether wearing a gas mask increases the WOB and (b) whether the application of CPAP to a gas mask will mitigate (reduce) said increase to the WOB.
Ten healthy males completed two test protocols with three stages each, and in three mask conditions. Physiological and dyspnea parameters were measured.
Wearing a gas mask increased the metabolic cost and work of breathing. When the portable CPAP device was applied, there was no change in the calculated work of breathing, but metabolic cost of breathing was significantly reduced. CPAP also significantly reduced the sensation of dyspnea.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/35152 |
| Date | 19 March 2013 |
| Creators | Machina, Matthew |
| Contributors | Fisher, Joseph A. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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