Methods and Safety of Exercise Testing in Older Adults: A Narrative Review

Author(s): Singhasha Mog Choudhury

For almost fifty years, clinical exercise testing has been a mainstay of cardiovascular evaluation, especially for ischemic heart disease (IHD) diagnosis, functional assessment, and prognostic stratification. Exercise testing for older adults has become more crucial in both clinical and preventive healthcare settings due to the world's rapidly growing senior population. However, aging is linked to progressive physiological changes, a higher burden of comorbidities, frailty, and functional limitations, all of which call for more stringent safety precautions, protocols, and testing modalities. The methods, indications, contraindications, risk stratification, protocol selection, and safety principles of exercise testing in older adults are all thoroughly examined in this narrative review. Submaximal, functional, and field-based evaluations, as well as customized protocol design, are given special attention.