Fig. 4

Oxygen consumption in relation to age and for different activities and diseases. VO₂max decreases for healthy males (black line) and healthy females (gray line) with age. Example requirements of continuous level and incline walking (W, [149, 150]), running (R, [151]), and climbing stairs [152] are indicated by a black circle. VO₂max values for people with peripheral vascular disease (PVD, [60]), coronary artery disease (CAD, [58]), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, [56]), and cystic fibrosis (CF, [57]) and hemiparesis (HP, [50]) are indicated by a gray circle. Age related trends for both genders are from linear fits of 619 males and 497 females with an age between 18 to 95 years [14]