Assessment of physical work capacity

¹ Division of Research, Lankenau Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Maximal oxygen uptakes were compared with the results from five different tests of physical work capacity in 96 men, 23–62 years of age. In addition, the ‘predicted’ maximal oxygen uptakes, according to the Åstrand-Ryhming nomogram, were compared with the actual measured maximal oxygen uptakes in the 28 subjects who were between 20 and 30 years of age. There was a statistically significant correlation between the maximal oxygen uptake and the following tests: the Harvard step test (P < .001); a new modified step test in which adjustments were made for the body weight and the length of the legs of the subject (P < .001); the Master step test (P < .05); and the Amplituden-Puls-Frequenz test, (P < .02). There was no statistically significant correlation between the maximal oxygen uptake and the Leistungs-Pulsindex. The correlation between the predicted maximal oxygen uptake and the measured maximal oxygen uptake was statistically significant at the .01 level.