Extended steep ramp test normative values for 19–24-year-old healthy active young adults

PURPOSE: To extend currently available sex and age-specific normative values in children and adolescents for the peak work rate (WR(peak)) attained at the steep ramp test (SRT) to healthy active young adults. METHODS: Healthy male and female participants aged between 19 and 24 years were recruited. After screening and anthropometric measurements, participants performed a SRT on a cycle ergometer (increments of 25 W/10 s), monitoring and recording SRT-WR(peak), heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP) at rest and directly after peak exercise. RESULTS: Fifty-seven participants (31 males and 26 females; median age of 21.3 years) volunteered and were tested. Anthropometrics, resting BP and lung function were all within normal ranges. Ninety-three percent of the participants attained a peak HR (HR(peak)) > 80% of predicted (mean HR(peak) 87 ± 5% of predicted). No differences were found in resting and peak exercise variables between females and males, except for absolute SRT-WR(peak) (350 W [Q1: 306; Q3: 371] and 487 W [Q1: 450; Q3: 517], respectively) and SRT-WR(peak) normalized for body mass (relative SRT-WR(peak); 5.4 ± 0.5 and 6.2 ± 0.6 W/kg, respectively). Low-to-moderate correlations (ρ [0.02–0.71]) were observed between SRT-WR(peak) and anthropometric variables for females and males separately. Extended reference curves (8–24-year-old subjects) for SRT performance show different trends between male and female subjects when modelled against age, body height, and body mass. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides sex-, age-, body height-, and body mass-related normative values (presented as reference centiles) for absolute and relative SRT performance throughout childhood and early adulthood. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00421-019-04255-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.