Muraki S; Tsunawake N; Tahara Y; Hiramatsu S; Yamasaki M, Siebold University of Nagasaki, Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, Faculty of Nursing and Nutrition, 822 Yoshimutago, Nagayo-cho, Nishisonogi-gun, Nagasaki 851-2195, Japan. smuraki@sun.ac.jp, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 2000 Jan, 81(1-2):28-32

The purpose of this study was to determine the main factors that influence physical work capacity (PWC) in wheelchair-dependent paraplegics with spinal cord injury (SCI) using multivariate analysis. Thirty-two male paraplegics with SCI (PSCI) performed a submaximal arm exercise test on an arm-cranking ergometer to determine their PWC (oxygen uptake: ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) at a heart rate of 150 beats x min(-1) (PWC150). Hayashi's Quantification first type was applied to analyze the effects on PWC150 of six factors: age, smoking, level of physical activity, occupation, level of SCI and period since SCI. This analysis revealed high partial correlation coefficients between PWC150 and the level of SCI (0.651) and physical activity level (0.583) compared to other factors. In addition, the multiple correlation coefficient for six factors in predicting PWC150 was 0.726. These results indicate that the level of SCI and physical activity are the most important factors in determining PWC in wheelchair-dependent male PSCI.