Exercise Oximetry Correlates Better With Exercise-Induced Lactate Increase, than Ankle Brachial Index or Walking Time, in Vascular Claudicants

In claudication, the correlation between walking-induced biomarkers and indices of clinical severity (e.g., walking distance or ankle brachial index (ABI)), is fair. We hypothesized that a correlation would be observed between the clinical estimation of ischemia severity with exercise transcutaneous oximetry (Ex-TcpO2) and lactate increase. A prospective study was performed among 377 patients with arterial claudication. We recorded age, sex, ABI, body mass index (BMI), systolic arterial blood pressure (SBP), and glycemia. Capillary blood lactate was measured at rest and 3 min after a constant load treadmill test. We recorded maximum walking time (MWT), heart rate (HRmax), the sum of minimal decrease from oxygen values for buttocks, thighs and calves Ex-TcpO2 (DROPmin), as well as the amplitude of chest-TcpO2 decrease. A multilinear regression model was used to assess the variables associated with lactate increase. BMI, SBP, HRmax, the amplitude of decrease in chest-TcpO2 and DROPmin, but not age, sex, ABI, MWT, diabetes mellitus nor glycemia, were significantly associated to lactate increase in the model. Because it accounts for the severity and diffusion of lower-limb exercise-induced ischemia and detects exercise induced hypoxemia, TcpO2 may be preferable to ABI or MWT to estimate the metabolic consequences of walking in claudicants.