Assessing cardiorespiratory fitness in clinical and community settings: Lessons and advancements in the 100th year anniversary of VO 2max

Harber MP; Clinical Exercise Physiology, Chicago, IL, USA
Myers J; Bonikowske AR; Muntaner-Mas A; Molina-Garcia P; Arena R; Healthy Ortega FB;

Progress in cardiovascular diseases [Prog Cardiovasc Dis] 2024 Feb 26.
Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 26.

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a well-established biomarker that has applications to all adults across the health and disease spectrum. Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting the prognostic utility of CRF, it remains vastly underutilized. CRF is optimally measured via cardiopulmonary exercise testing which may not be feasible to implement on a large scale. Therefore, it is prudent to develop ways to accurately estimate CRF that can be applied in clinical and community settings. As such, several prediction equations incorporating non-exercise information that is readily available from routine clinical encounters have been developed that provide an adequate reflection of CRF that could be implemented to raise awareness of the importance of CRF. Further, technological advances in smartphone apps and consumer-grade wearables have demonstrated promise to provide reasonable estimates of CRF that are widely available, which could enhance the utilization of CRF in both clinical and community settings.