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Cardiorespiratory fitness, exercise capacity and physical activity in children: are we measuring the right thing?
Correspondence to:
Ulf Ekelund, MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, CB2 0QQ, Cambridge, UK; ulf.ekelund@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
Accepted 10 January 2008
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Large prospective cohort studies have consistently shown that physical inactivity and low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are strong and independent predictors of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in men and women. The risk of premature death is estimated to be 25% to 50% lower for those who are fit compared with those who are unfit.1 Among healthy children, higher levels of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are independently associated with a favourable metabolic risk profile.2
Direct assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness is performed by measuring peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2, L/min) during a maximal exercise test. This requires simultaneous measurement of respiratory gas exchange by indirect calorimetry and is usually performed in a controlled environment. However, field tests that measure exercise capacity and heart-rate responses are available and are frequently used as surrogates.
Lammers et al3 present data on normal values for the 6-minute walk test in children aged 4 to
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