Abstract

BackgroundCardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is the only major risk factor that is not routinely assessed in the clinical setting, for preventive medicine. A valid and practical CRF test is needed for use in the clinics. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the validity of a 3-minute squat test to assess CRF in primary care.MethodsA cross-sectional study in which the participants performed both the Ruffier squat test and the Balke maximal treadmill test. The study was conducted in a clinical setting from September 2016 to March 2017. We recruited a convenient sample of 40 adults between 18 and 64 years from the general U.S. population. Participants completed 30 squats in 45 seconds, paced by a metronome. Heart rate was measured at rest (P1), immediately after the test (P2), one minute after the test (P3). was measured using the Balke maximal treadmill fitness test.ResultsOf the 40 participants, there were 18 men and 22 women. Mean age was 31.2 years (SD = 9.9). We found that the best predictors were HR features P1/height and (P2–P3)/age3. Our best-performing model using these two features predicted individuals’ CRF levels with an adjusted R2 of 0.637, sensitivity of 0.79, and specificity of 0.56.ConclusionsThe study provided strong evidence for the validity of the squat test in the clinical setting. Further, the equation of our model along with normative tables provides an efficient and easy way to assess CRF in a primary care setting.

Highlights

  • Low levels of physical activity remain a major contributor to obesity, chronic illnesses, and mortality [1],[2]

  • Testing Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is essential for preventive medicine [17,18], as exemplified by the American Heart Association (AHA) recently published policy statement highlighting the need to develop a national CRF registry [19]

  • For the recovery heart rate (HR) parameter, we found that the difference between the peak HR and 60 second recovery HR was a significant predictor of V_O2max

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Summary

Introduction

Low levels of physical activity remain a major contributor to obesity, chronic illnesses, and mortality [1],[2]. A direct consequence of obesity and insufficient physical activity is reduction in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), a strong predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is the only major risk factor that is not routinely assessed in the clinical setting, for preventive medicine. A valid and practical CRF test is needed for use in the clinics. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the validity of a 3-minute squat test to assess CRF in primary care

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