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  Vol. 276 No. 3, July 17, 1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Influences of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Other Precursors on Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality in Men and Women

Steven N. Blair, PED; James B. Kampert, PhD; Harold W. Kohl III, PhD; Carolyn E. Barlow, MS; Caroline A. Macera, PhD; Ralph S. Paffenbarger, Jr, MD, DrPH; Larry W. Gibbons, MD, MPH

JAMA. 1996;276(3):205-210.


Abstract

Objective.
—To quantify the relation of cardiorespiratory fitness to cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and to all-cause mortality within strata of other personal characteristics that predispose to early mortality.

Design.
—Observational cohort study. We calculated CVD and all-cause death rates for low (least fit 20%), moderate (next 40%), and high (most fit 40%) fitness categories by strata of smoking habit, cholesterol level, blood pressure, and health status.

Setting.
—Preventive medicine clinic.

Study Participants.
—Participants were 25 341 men and 7080 women who completed preventive medical examinations, including a maximal exercise test.

Main Outcome Measures.
—Cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

Results.
—There were 601 deaths during 211 996 man-years of follow-up, and 89 deaths during 52 982 woman-years of follow-up. Independent predictors of mortality among men, with adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (Cls), were low fitness (RR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.28-1.82), smoking (RR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.39-1.97), abnormal electrocardiogram (RR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.34-2.01), chronic illness (RR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.37-1.95), increased cholesterol level (RR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.13-1.59), and elevated systolic blood pressure (RR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.13-1.59). The only statistically significant independent predictors of mortality in women were low fitness (RR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.36-3.21) and smoking (RR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.25-3.17). Inverse gradients were seen for mortality across fitness categories within strata of other mortality predictors for both sexes. Fit persons with any combination of smoking, elevated blood pressure, or elevated cholesterol level had lower adjusted death rates than low-fit persons with none of these characteristics.

Conclusions.
—Low fitness is an important precursor of mortality. The protective effect of fitness held for smokers and nonsmokers, those with and without elevated cholesterol levels or elevated blood pressure, and unhealthy and healthy persons. Moderate fitness seems to protect against the influence of these other predictors on mortality. Physicians should encourage sedentary patients to become physically active and thereby reduce the risk of premature mortality.



Author Affiliations

From the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research (Drs Blair and Kampert and Ms Barlow) and the Cooper Clinic (Dr Gibbons), Dallas, Tex; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex (Dr Kohl); School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia (Dr Macera); and Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif (Dr Paffenbarger).


Footnotes

Presented in part at the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health, Bethesda, Md, December 18-20, 1995.

Reprints: Steven N. Blair, PED, Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, 12330 Preston Rd, Dallas, TX 75230. (e-mail: steve0704@aol.com).



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