Determining The Influence Of Sex And Gender On Exertional Dyspnea In Healthy Adults
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: During exercise, females have a higher perception of dyspnea (i.e., breathlessness) than males for a given absolute minute ventilation or exercise intensity. The effect of sex on exertional dyspnea has been attributed to sex-differences in respiratory muscle work; however, recent experimental evidence fails to support this hypothesis. In addition to biological variables such as sex, dyspnea perception is influenced by social, cultural, and psychological factors, which implies that gender may also affect dyspnea during exercise. PURPOSE: To determine the influence of sex and gender on dyspnea during exercise and inspiratory pressure threshold loading (IPTL) in healthy adults. METHODS: n = 10 healthy adults (20-35 y; n = 4 males, n = 6 females) completed the Stanford gender variables for health research questionnaire to assess their gender-related characteristics (i.e., caregiver strain, work strain, independence, risk-taking, emotional intelligence, social support, and discrimination). Participants then performed pulmonary function testing, an incremental exercise test on a cycle ergometer, a 20-min rest period, and an incremental IPTL test on a custom loading device. Throughout exercise and IPTL, standard cardiorespiratory parameters were monitored, and the perception of dyspnea intensity was assessed using the Borg 0-10 category ratio scale. RESULTS: Males had a significantly lower dyspnea intensity than females at the highest equivalent submaximal work rate during exercise (120 W; 1.1 ± 1 vs. 2.7 ± 1; p < 0.05) and at a standardized rate of inspiratory pressure generation during IPTL (i.e., 11 ± 1 cmH2O·s-1; 0.1 ± 1 vs. 1.3 ± 1; p < 0.05). Dyspnea intensity during exercise at 120 W and during IPTL at 11 ± 1 cmH2O·s-1 was significantly associated with gender-related variables, including work strain, discrimination, and social support (all p < 0.05, r = 0.71-0.66), but not with caregiver strain, independence, risk-taking, and emotional intelligence (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our preliminary data suggest that sex-differences in exertional dyspnea may be partially explained by gender-related characteristics. Supported by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2020-06564) and Manitoba Medical Service Foundation (5409) operating grants
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".