Prediction of maximal oxygen consumption from body mass, height and body surface area in young sedentary subjects.

The study was aimed to establish prediction norms for maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) from age, body mass and body surface area (BSA) in young sedentary subjects of Kolkata, India. Students of 20-24 years (male = 40 and female = 40) were recruited by simple random sampling from University of Calcutta, Kolkata. Thirty participants from each sex were further randomly alloted to the "study group" and rest 10 participants to the "confirmatory group". Physical parameters were measured and VO2max determination comprised of incremental bi-cycle exercise followed by expired gas analysis in Scholander micro-gas analyzer. Significant (P<0.001) correlation of VO2max existed with age, body mass, body height and BSA. Prediction of VO2max in the confirmatory groups using the norms obtained from different physical parameters depicted insignificant variation from the directly measured value of VO2max. Among these equations VO2max prediction from BSA was considered as the most valid one because of its highest correlation coefficient with VO2max in both the sexes. Multiple regression equation for prediction of VO2max from body mass and body height was also computed. The equation established from BSA is recommended as the most reliable and valid to predict VO2max in the young sedentary subjects of Kolkata, India; and multiple regression equations are also recommended for cross-checking the value.