Non Invasive Ventilation on Peripheral Muscle Function and Aerobic Performance

For the NIV intervention, two levels of positive airway pressure (bi-level) were used: the positive inspiratory airway pressure (IPAP) was fixed at 6 cmH2O (centimeters of water), which could be gradually increased up to 14 cmH2O (2 cmH2O every minute), depending on the patient's comfort. and gradually increased to 14 cmH2O (2 cmH2O every minute), While the expiratory airway pressure (EPAP) was set at 3 cmH2O, it could be gradually increased up to 7 cmH2O (1 cmH2O every minute), depending on the patient's comfort.while expiratory airway pressure (EPAP) was fixed at 3 cmH2O and gradually increased to 7 cmH2O (1 cmH2O every minute).

The same pressure chosen by the subject during adaptation was used in the placebo intervention; however, a T tube was connected between the equipment and the circuit, creating a leak and leaving the circuit open. The tube characteristics were: 22 x 18 x 22 mm nebulizer T-connector.