Cardiopulmonary response to exercise and cardiac assessment in patients with turner syndrome

Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disorder; however, little is known about the exercise tolerance of patients with this syndrome. The aim of the present study was to measure the maximal aerobic capacity and cardiac function using cardiopulmonary exercise testing and lung function tests and to evaluate the cardiac parameters using echocardiography in patients with TS and control subjects. A total of 50 women with TS (mean age 21.3 ± 8.5 years) and 56 age-matched controls (mean age 21.1 ± 3.7 years) were enrolled from the Pediatric Department of "Sapienza" University of Rome and underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing, lung function testing, and echocardiography. The maximal oxygen uptake was lower in the patients with TS than in the controls (28.4 ± 4.0 vs 35.6 ± 6.2 ml/min/kg; p 2.7, p