Prevention & lipidsMeta-analysis
Normative values for cardiopulmonary exercise testing in the pediatric population—an updated systematic review
- Systematic review
- PRISMA
- Searches February 1, 2019, to December 31, 2025, 6 databases
Risk of bias: 14-point ATS/ACCP statement and 8-point JBI Critical Appraisal Tool
Authors' conclusion
Updated normative values for CPET varied significantly in pediatric cohorts.
Study context
- Population
- Healthy participants <18 years old undergoing maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) (observational studies)
- Participants
- 12,083 participants · 15 studies
- Outcome
- Reference values for peak oxygen uptake (V̇O2peak)
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Normative V̇O2peak
Normative V̇O2peak range
26.0-56.3 mL·kg-1·min-1
Further pooled results
Peak heart rate and peak ventilation
- Peak heart rate range
- 175-199 bpm
- Peak ventilation range
- 52.2-96.0 L·min-1
Reference equations
- Studies developing reference equations
- 11
- Studies validating derived equations
- 5
Study quality
- High-quality studies
- 2
- Moderate-quality studies
- 9
- Low-quality studies
- 4
- Quality level did not influence study outcomes
- high heterogeneity between studies
Original publication
Normative values for cardiopulmonary exercise testing in the pediatric population—an updated systematic review. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 20 March 2026. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwag168
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it