Cardiovascular Fitness and Associated Comorbidities in An Executive Health Program

Abstract

Objectives: Low cardiorespiratory fitness, defined as a VO2 max below the 25th percentile for age and sex, is associated with greater body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and plasma cholesterol values and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Given that sedentarism has substantially increased in the U.S. population in the last 20 years and that office workers have the lowest cardiorespiratory fitness of the workforce, we aimed to assess the prevalence of low cardiorespiratory fitness in an corporate wellness program and determine its relationship with associated comorbidities.Methods: For this retrospective observational analysis demographics, height, weight, blood pressure at rest, plasma glucose, lipids, comorbidities, and VO2 max data was extracted from the medical records of 199 participants attending the Executive Health Program at M Health Fairview of the University of Minnesota. Participants were predominantly white, middle-aged men with near-optimal blood pressure values.Results: Participants with low cardiorespiratory fitness had a VO2 max [mean (range) of 28 (19.4 - 36.1) mL/kg/min], and was observed in 33% of all participants. Participants with low cardiorespiratory fitness were more likely to have higher BMI, dyslipidemia and hypertension than those in the excellent to superior category of cardiorespiratory fitness, VO2 max [mean (range) 45.6 (31.8 - 61.2) mL/kg/min]. Prevalence of obesity (17%) was lower than in the general U.S. population, and those who were obese were more likely to be of low cardiorespiratory fitness. Those with low cardiorespiratory fitness had a four fold relative risk of belonging to the group at high risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases when compared to those with a fair to superior cardiorespiratory fitness.Conclusions: Low cardiorespiratory fitness identified in a third of all participants, is a modifiable risk factor associated with risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disease, should be evaluated in executive health programs.