Relationship between the percentage of predicted cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiovascular disease risk factors in premenopausal women: a MONET study

Abstract

Objective To determine the relationships between the percentage predicted cardiorespiratory fitness (%CRF) and the anthropometric and metabolic cardiovascular disease risk factors in asymptomatic, premenopausal women.Methods Data are baseline values obtained in 97 healthy premenopausal women (age 49.9 ± 1.9 years; body mass index 23.2 ± 2.2 kg/m2) participating in a longitudinal study from 2004 to 2009. The outcome measures were peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak), body mass index, body composition (percentage fat, fat mass, fat-free mass), waist circumference, abdominal subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, resting blood pressure and fasting lipids, glucose and insulin levels.Results The %CRF was negatively associated with body mass index, fat mass, percentage fat, waist circumference, abdominal subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, triglycerides, triglyceride/high density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, total cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting insulin levels and HOMA-IR (− 0.59 ≤ r ≤ − 0.20; 0.01 < p < 0.05) and positively associated with insulin sensitivity index (r = 0.23; p < 0.05). VO2 peak was associated with the same variables; however, correlations were slightly better (− 0.70 ≤ r ≤ 0.30; 0.01 < p < 0.05). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that %CRF was only independently correlated with plasma triglyceride levels.Conclusion The results of this study suggest that %CRF was not a major predictor of anthropometric and metabolic variables associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in asymptomatic premenopausal women. Finally, the VO2 peak is a better predictor than the %CRF to assess the risk of cardiovascular disease in asymptomatic premenopausal women.