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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1452541

Inter-individual variability in peripheral oxygen saturation and repeated sprint performance in hypoxia: An observational study of highly-trained subjects

Provisionally accepted
NAOYA TAKEI NAOYA TAKEI 1,2*Ryuji Muraki Ryuji Muraki 3Olivier Girard Olivier Girard 4Hideo Hatta Hideo Hatta 2
  • 1 Japan Women's College of Physical Education, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2 The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tōkyō, Japan
  • 3 Surugadai University, Hanno, Saitama, Japan
  • 4 University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Individual variations in peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) during repeated sprints in hypoxia and their impact on exercise performance remain unclear despite fixed external hypoxic stimuli (inspired oxygen fraction: FiO2). This study examined SpO2 individual variations during repeated sprints in hypoxia and their impact on exercise performance. Thirteen highly-trained sprint runners performed 10 × 10-s cycle sprints with 30-s passive recoveries in normobaric hypoxia (FiO2: 0.150). Mean power output (MPO), post-sprint SpO2, and heart rate for each sprint were assessed. Sprint decrement score (Sdec), evaluating fatigue development, was calculated using MPO variables. Participants were categorized into a high saturation group (HiSat, n=7) or a low saturation group (LowSat, n=6) based on their mean post-sprint SpO2 (measured 10 to 15 s after each sprint). Individual mean post-sprint SpO2 ranged from 91.6% to 82.2%. Mean post-sprint SpO2 was significantly higher (P < 0.001, d = 1.54) in HiSat (89.1 ± 1.5%) than LowSat (84.7 ± 1.6%). A significantly larger decrease in Sdec (P = 0.008, d = 1.68) occurred in LowSat (-22.3 ± 2.3%) compared to HiSat (-17.9 ± 2.5%). MPO (P = 0.342 d = 0.55) and heart rate (P = 0.225 d = 0.67) did not differ between groups. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.61; P = 0.028) between SpO2 and Sdec. In highly-trained sprint runners, individual responses to hypoxia varied widely and significantly affected repeated sprint ability, with greater decreases in SpO2 associated with larger performance alterations (i.e., larger decrease in Sdec).

    Keywords: Hypoxic training, Simulated altitude, Repeated sprint ability, oxygen saturation, individual variation

    Received: 21 Jun 2024; Accepted: 26 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 TAKEI, Muraki, Girard and Hatta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: NAOYA TAKEI, Japan Women's College of Physical Education, Tokyo, Japan

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