Coronary artery calcium, exercise tolerance, and CHD events in asymptomatic men.

Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores >/=100 are predictive of CHD events in asymptomatic men. Exercise tolerance of >/=10METs predicts lower event rates in CHD patients; however, its relationship with events in individuals with subclinical atherosclerosis is less known. Participants were 710 asymptomatic men from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study whose exercise tolerance (ET) was quantified (<10 or >/=10METs) and whose CAC score was >/=100 as measured by electron beam tomography.

Inverse association between physical inactivity and mental health in men and women.

Purpose: The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) provides the opportunity to evaluate associations between measures of physical activity and mental health in a large and well-characterized population of men and women.

Methods: Participants were 5451 men and 1277 women (20-88 yr) who completed a maximal fitness treadmill test and self-report measures of habitual physical activity, depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Scale for Depression; CES-D) and emotional well-being (General Well-Being Schedule; GWB). To evaluate the dose-response gradient of the association, we classified the sample, separately for men and women, into three levels of relative cardiorespiratory (CR) fitness (low, moderate, high) on the maximal treadmill test, and four levels on a physical activity index of weekly walking, jogging, and running.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is an independent predictor of hypertension incidence among initially normotensive healthy women.

The authors examined the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and incident hypertension in women who were normotensive and free of cardiovascular disease at baseline in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (Dallas, Texas), 1970-1998. A total of 4,884 women performed a maximal treadmill exercise test and completed a follow-up health survey. During an average follow-up of 5 years, 157 incident cases of self-reported, physician-diagnosed hypertension were identified from the health surveys.

Association of muscular strength with incidence of metabolic syndrome in men.

Purpose: To examine the association between muscular strength and incidence of metabolic syndrome.

Methods: Participants were 3233 men (20-80 yr) initially free of metabolic syndrome who had two or more clinical examinations between 1980 and 2003, including baseline muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness assessment. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to NCEP-ATP III criteria.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is inversely associated with the incidence of metabolic syndrome: a prospective study of men and women.

Background: Few studies have reported the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and metabolic syndrome incidence, particularly in women.

Methods And Results: We prospectively studied 9007 men (mean+/-SD age, 44+/-9 years; body mass index, 25+/-3 kg/m2) and 1491 women (age, 44+/-9 years; body mass index, 22+/-2 kg/m2) who were free of metabolic syndrome and for whom measures of waist girth, resting blood pressure, fasting lipids, and glucose were taken during baseline and follow-up examinations. Baseline cardiorespiratory fitness was quantified as duration of a maximal treadmill test.

Exercise treatment for depression: efficacy and dose response.

Background: This study, conducted between 1998 and 2001 and analyzed in 2002 and 2003, was designed to test (1) whether exercise is an efficacious treatment for mild to moderate major depressive disorder (MDD), and (2) the dose-response relation of exercise and reduction in depressive symptoms.

Design: The study was a randomized 2x2 factorial design, plus placebo control.

Setting/participants: All exercise was performed in a supervised laboratory setting with adults (n =80) aged 20 to 45 years diagnosed with mild to moderate MDD.

Associations of muscle strength and fitness with metabolic syndrome in men.

Purpose: To examine the associations for muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among men.

Methods: Participants were 8570 men (20-75 yr) for whom an age-specific muscular strength score was computed by combining the body weight adjusted one-repetition maximum measures for the leg press and the bench press. Cardiorespiratory fitness was quantified by age-specific maximal treadmill exercise test time.

Longitudinal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness: measurement error or true change?

Purpose: This study examined the thesis that the reported Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) mortality reductions associated with improved cardiorespiratory fitness were because of measurement error of serial treadmill tests. We tested the research hypothesis that longitudinal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness of the ACLS cohort were a multivariate function of changes in self-report physical activity (SR-PA), resting heart rate, and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: We used the results of three serial maximal treadmill tests (T1, T2, and T3) to evaluate the serial changes in cardiorespiratory fitness of 4675 men.

Dose Response to Exercise in Women aged 45-75 yr (DREW): design and rationale.

Introduction And Purpose: Physical inactivity in postmenopausal women contributes to a rise in atherogenic risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome. Although regular physical activity positively contributes to health, inactivity progressively increases with age. The Dose Response to Exercise in Women aged 45-75 yr (DREW) study is designed to investigate the effect of different amounts of exercise training on cardiorespiratory fitness and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in postmenopausal women at moderately increased risk of CVD.

Reduction of C-reactive protein levels through use of a multivitamin.

Purpose: Elevated C-reactive protein levels are associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We examined whether multivitamins reduce C-reactive protein levels.

Methods: We performed a post hoc subgroup analysis of a 6-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Heart rate recovery following maximal exercise testing as a predictor of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in men with diabetes.

Objective: Heart rate recovery (HRR) is an independent prognostic indicator for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in healthy men. We examined the association of HRR to CVD-related and all-cause mortality in men with diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: In this cohort study we examined 2,333 men with documented diabetes (mean age 49.

Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and C-reactive protein in men.

Objective: This study examined the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and C-reactive protein (CRP), with adjustment for weight and within weight categories.

Methods And Results: We calculated median and adjusted geometric mean CRP levels, percentages of individuals with an elevated CRP (> or =2.00 mg/L), and odds ratios of elevated CRP across 5 levels of cardiorespiratory fitness for 722 men.

The DOSE study: a clinical trial to examine efficacy and dose response of exercise as treatment for depression.

The Depression Outcomes Study of Exercise (DOSE) was a randomized clinical trial to determine whether exercise is an efficacious treatment for mild to moderate major depressive disorder (MDD) in adults ages 20 to 45 years. The specific hypotheses under investigation were (1) active exercise is an efficacious monotherapy for mild to moderate levels of MDD, and (2) there is a dose-response relation between the exercise amount and reduction in depressive symptoms. The primary outcome measure was the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) collected weekly over 12 weeks.

Relative associations of fitness and fatness to fibrinogen, white blood cell count, uric acid and metabolic syndrome.

Objective: To examine the relation between fitness and fibrinogen, white blood cell count, uric acid and metabolic syndrome across levels of adiposity in apparently healthy, nonsmoking men.

Design: Cross-sectional study of 4057 men from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study examining the age-adjusted resting levels and risk of having a clinically significant elevation of fibrinogen, white blood cell count, uric acid and metabolic syndrome score across nine fitness-body fatness combinations. Fitness categories (low fitness, moderately fit or high fitness) were based on a maximal treadmill test.

Evaluating the reproducibility and validity of the Aerobic Adaptation Test.

Purpose: To examine the reproducibility and validity of a new submaximal, ramped cycle ergometer testing methodology known as the Aerobic Adaptation Test (AAT), which attempts to detect changes in submaximal work capacity and minimize participant discomfort.

Methods: 36 sedentary men (mean age = 48.1 +/- 10.

Usefulness of cardiorespiratory fitness as a predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in men with systemic hypertension.

There is an inverse gradient of mortality across levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy adults; however, the association of fitness to mortality in persons with comorbidities such as hypertension is not fully understood. This study quantifies the relation of cardiorespiratory fitness to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in hypertensive men. In this observational cohort study, we calculated death rates for low, moderate, and high fitness categories in normotensive (n = 15,726) and hypertensive (n = 3,184) men, and in men without a history of hypertension but with elevated blood pressure (BP) (systolic BP > or = 140 or diastolic BP > or = 90 mm Hg) at baseline (n = 3,257).

Comparison of a dietary record using reported portion size versus standard portion size for assessing nutrient intake.

Objective: Because the percentage of missing portion sizes was large in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS), careful consideration of the accuracy of standard portion sizes was necessary. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the consequences of using standard portion sizes instead of reported portion sizes on subjects' nutrient intake.

Methods: In 2307 men and 411 women, nutrient intake calculated from a 3-day dietary record using reported portion sizes was compared with nutrient intake calculated from the same record in which standard portion sizes were substituted for reported portion sizes.

Alcohol intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes in men.

Objective: To evaluate the relation between alcohol intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: This prospective study included 8,663 men with fasting plasma glucose measurements from at least two medical examinations. Alcohol intake was classified into five groups: nondrinkers and four quartiles (Qs) of drinkers according to the amount of alcohol intake.

Low fasting plasma glucose level as a predictor of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

Background: Although medical textbooks usually classify fasting plasma glucose <70 or 80 mg/dL (<3.89 or 4.44 mmol/L) as abnormal, the prognosis for patients with low fasting plasma glucose is unclear.

Low cardiorespiratory fitness and physical inactivity as predictors of mortality in men with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Although physical activity is recommended as a basic treatment for patients with diabetes, its long-term association with mortality in these patients is unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the association of low cardiorespiratory fitness and physical inactivity with mortality in men with type 2 diabetes.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Relationship between low cardiorespiratory fitness and mortality in normal-weight, overweight, and obese men.

Context: Recent guidelines for treatment of overweight and obesity include recommendations for risk stratification by disease conditions and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, but the role of physical inactivity is not prominent in these recommendations.

Objective: To quantify the influence of low cardiorespiratory fitness, an objective marker of physical inactivity, on CVD and all-cause mortality in normal-weight, overweight, and obese men and compare low fitness with other mortality predictors.

Design: Prospective observational data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study.

The association between cardiorespiratory fitness and impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes mellitus in men.

Background: Several studies show an inverse association between self-reported physical activity and type 2 diabetes. It is not known whether physical activity or cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with the onset of objectively determined impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To determine whether cardiorespiratory fitness, an objective marker of physical activity, is associated with risk for impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes.

Physical fitness and clustering of risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to 1) assess the prevalence of clustering of metabolic markers of the MS in a defined population and 2) determine the association between CRF and such clustering in a large group of adult men (N = 15,537) and women (N = 3,899).

Methods: Metabolic markers of the MS included systolic blood pressure (BP) > or = 140 mm Hg, serum triglycerides > or = 150 mg x dL(-1), fasting blood glucose > or = 110 mg x dL(-1), and elevated central adiposity (waist circumference > 100 cm). Cardiorespiratory fitness was defined as total time on a maximal treadmill exercise test.

Comparison of lifestyle and structured interventions to increase physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness: a randomized trial.

Context: Even though the strong association between physical inactivity and ill health is well documented, 60% of the population is inadequately active or completely inactive. Traditional methods of prescribing exercise have not proven effective for increasing and maintaining a program of regular physical activity.

Objective: To compare the 24-month intervention effects of a lifestyle physical activity program with traditional structured exercise on improving physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cardiovascular disease risk factors.