Cardiorespiratory fitness, macronutrient intake, and the metabolic syndrome: the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study.

Objective: This study examines the cross-sectional associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and the metabolic syndrome with adjustment for macronutrient intake from 3-day dietary records.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Subjects/setting: Women and men who had a comprehensive medical examination, including a symptom-limited maximal treadmill exercise test, and completed 3-day dietary records at the Cooper Clinic, Dallas, TX.

Visceral fat is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in men.

Objective: To examine the independent associations of abdominal fat (visceral and subcutaneous) and liver fat with all-cause mortality.

Research Methods And Procedures: Participants included 291 men [97 decedents and 194 controls; mean age, 56.4 +/- 12.

Coronary artery calcium score, risk factors, and incident coronary heart disease events.

Background: Whether the absence of coronary artery calcium, or conversely the presence of high volumes of coronary artery calcium, may alter assessment of coronary heart disease risk based on traditional risk factors is uncertain. We sought to identify a potential threshold of coronary artery calcium for clinical use and examine the predictive power of coronary artery calcium in individuals categorized using conventional coronary heart disease risk assessment.

Methods: The study included 10,746 men and women (36.

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.

Coronary artery calcium score and coronary heart disease events in a large cohort of asymptomatic men and women.

Coronary artery calcium (CAC), a measure of subclinical coronary heart disease (CHD), may be useful in identifying asymptomatic persons at risk of CHD events. The current study included 10,746 adults who were 22-96 years of age, were free of known CHD, and had their CAC quantified by electron-beam tomography at baseline as part of a preventive medical examination at the Cooper Clinic (Dallas, Texas) during 1995-2000. During a mean follow-up of 3.

Liver fat is not a marker of metabolic risk in lean premenopausal women.

We examined the independent associations among abdominal adipose tissue (AT) depots, liver fat, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and metabolic risk factors in 86 lean premenopausal women. We measured abdominal AT and liver fat by computed tomography (CT), and CRF by a maximal treadmill exercise test. Liver fat was not related to any abdominal AT depot, metabolic risk factor, or CRF (P > .

The evolution of physical activity recommendations: how much is enough?

Physical inactivity is a major public health problem, and compelling evidence suggests that it is a contributing factor in several chronic diseases and conditions. Recognition of the health and functional hazards of a sedentary way of life has led numerous groups to promulgate public health recommendations for physical activity. In this report, we review the evolution of physical activity recommendations, discuss reasons for differences in the recommendations, and provide a summary recommendation in an attempt to harmonize existing differences.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with lower abdominal fat independent of body mass index.

Purpose: To determine whether, for a given body mass index (BMI), men with high cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) have lower waist circumference (WC) and less total abdominal, abdominal subcutaneous, and visceral adipose tissue (AT) compared with men with low CRF.

Methods: Subjects were categorized into HIGH CRF (N = 169) and LOW CRF (N = 124) groups based on age and CRF measured using a maximal treadmill test. Total abdominal, abdominal subcutaneous and visceral AT were measured by computerized tomography.

Patterns of change in hostility from college to midlife in the UNC Alumni Heart Study predict high-risk status.

Objective: To examine hostility measured in college and patterns of change in hostility from college to midlife as predictors of high health-related risk later in midlife.

Methods: Logistic regression models were used to test hostility/risk associations.

Results: College hostility predicted being a current smoker, consuming more than two drinks of alcohol, low social support, achieving less than expected in career and in relationships, risk for depression, and appraisal of life changing for the worse in terms of family events at midlife.

Higher blood pressure in middle-aged American adults with less education-role of multiple dietary factors: the INTERMAP study.

Extensive evidence exists that an inverse relation between education and blood pressure prevails in many adult populations, but little research has been carried out on reasons for this finding. A prior goal of the INTERMAP Study was to investigate this phenomenon further, and to assess the role of dietary factors in accounting for it. Of the 4680 men and women aged 40-59 years, from 17 diverse population samples in Japan, People's Republic of China, UK, and USA, a strong significant inverse education-BP relation was manifest particularly for the 2195 USA participants, independent of ethnicity.

Comparison of coronary artery calcium detected by electron beam tomography in patients with to those without symptomatic coronary heart disease.

Although the presence of coronary artery calcium (CAC) has been associated with the prevalence and incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), it is unclear if this association has a threshold or a continuous relation. The aim of this research was to explore the relation between CAC, as detected by electron beam tomography (EBT), and CHD in a cross-sectional study of women and men who presented to a single center for elective screening with EBT from 1995 to 1998. Of 17,967 participants, patients with CHD had higher CAC levels than those without CHD.

Visceral fat and liver fat are independent predictors of metabolic risk factors in men.

We examined the independent associations among abdominal adipose tissue (AT), liver fat, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and lipid variables in 161 Caucasian men who had a wide variation in adiposity. We measured AT and liver fat by computed tomography and CRF by a maximal exercise test on a treadmill. Visceral AT remained a significant (P View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nutrient intake of obese female binge eaters.

Objective: To compare the 6-month change in selected nutrients and number of binge days (from 7-day food records) between obese binge eaters randomly assigned to either a behavioral self-management (BSM) or waiting list control (WLC) group. Within each of the 2 groups, the average intake of selected nutrients on binge and nonbinge days at baseline and at 6 months were compared.

Design: A randomized, controlled, intervention study with assessments at entry and 6 months later.

Community-wide coronary heart disease mortality in Mexican Americans equals or exceeds that in non-Hispanic whites: the Corpus Christi Heart Project.

Purpose: Previous comparisons of coronary heart disease mortality between Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites have given paradoxic results: despite their adverse cardiovascular risk profiles, especially a greater prevalence of diabetes, Mexican Americans are reported to have lower rates of mortality from coronary heart disease.

Subjects And Methods: We performed a community-based surveillance among all residents of Nueces County, Texas, aged 25 to 74 years, from 1990 to 1994. All death certificates were obtained and coded, and deaths potentially related to coronary heart disease were selected and validated by standardized methods blinded to ethnicity.

Change in level of physical activity and risk of all-cause mortality or reinfarction: The Corpus Christi Heart Project.

Background: The role of physical activity (PA) in reducing the risk of all-cause mortality or reinfarction after a first myocardial infarction (MI) remains unresolved, particularly for minority populations. The association between change in level of PA and risk of death or reinfarction was studied in 406 Mexican American and non-Hispanic white women and men who survived a first MI.

Methods And Results: MI patients were interviewed at baseline and annually thereafter about PA, medical history, and risk factors of coronary heart disease.

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.

Congestive heart failure in the United States: is there more than meets the I(CD code)? The Corpus Christi Heart Project.

Background: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is increasing as a public health problem in the United States. The ability to quantify this problem has been limited by a lack of data regarding the validity of CHF identification.

Objective: To assess the validity of the use of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD) codes to identify hospitalizations with clinical evidence of an episode of acute CHF in data of The Corpus Christi Heart Project, a population-based surveillance program for hospitalized coronary heart disease.

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.

Greater stroke rate during hospitalization for acute heart disease among Mexican Americans than non-Hispanic whites.

Background And Purpose: This study compared the risk for stroke during acute myocardial infarction (AMI), percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) between Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites.

Methods: We examined the age-specific rate ratios (RR) of acute stroke during hospitalization for AMI, CABG and PTCA in a population-based study in Corpus Christi, Tex. by searching the cardiac surveillance data for ICD-9 codes for stroke (430-437).

Knowledge of heart attack symptoms in a population survey in the United States: The REACT Trial. Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment.

Background: Greater use of thrombolysis for patients with myocardial infarction has been limited by patient delay in seeking care for heart attack symptoms. Deficiencies in knowledge of symptoms may contribute to delay and could be a target for intervention. We sought to characterize symptom knowledge.

Summary measures of the insulin resistance syndrome are adverse among Mexican-American versus non-Hispanic white children: the Corpus Christi Child Heart Study.

Background: Mexican-American (MA) adults are known to have a greater burden of diabetes and insulin resistance than non-Hispanic white (NHW) people. In this report, we examined data obtained from MA and NHW third-grade children for evidence of a pattern consistent with the insulin resistance syndrome. In addition, we developed two summary measures characterizing insulin resistance syndrome to compare measures of this syndrome among our population.

Cardiovascular risk factors in Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children: The Corpus Christi Child Heart Study.

Background: Information concerning differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors between Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children is limited. We conducted a study to determine if there were ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors in children and whether such differences were explained by differences in body mass index.

Methods And Results: Fasting glucose, insulin, and blood lipid concentrations, blood pressure, weight, and height were measured in a cross-sectional survey among 403 third-grade children in Corpus Christi, Tex.