CARDIORESPIRATORY SYSTEM

Cardiorespiratory System

Cardiorespiratory Fitness

The protective effect of physical activity on total mortality, life expectancy, cardiovascular disease and diabetes has been widely reported in people of all ages (www.coo.health.usyd.edu.au). Recent estimates suggest that obesity and physical inactivity are responsible for 400,000 deaths annually in the United States; thus, it is close to overtaking tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death (www.deaconesshealthsystem.com).

Cardiorespiratory fitness is related to an individual's ability to use the large muscles for prolonged periods of dynamic, moderate-to-high intensity exercise. Level of cardiorespiratory fitness is dependent on the condition of the respiratory, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle systems. Analysis of cardiorespiratory fitness is important because of its relationship to health and wellness (www.coo.health.usyd.edu.au). Poor cardiorespiratory fitness is related to a marked increase in risk of premature death from all causes, but particularly, from cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness is related to a reduction in premature death from all causes (www.deaconesshealthsystem.com).

Cardiorespiratory fitness is a direct marker of physiological status and recent data suggest that fitness is one of the strongest predictors of health outcomes (www.coo.health.usyd.edu.au). In fact, cardiorespiratory fitness is a direct measure of physiological performance and of the ability to adapt to physical stress. Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are closely related in that fitness is partially determined by physical activity patterns over recent weeks or months. Cardiorespiratory fitness is also determined by constitutional factors. It has been suggested that ~40% of variation in cardiorespiratory fitness is attributable to genetic factors (www.deaconesshealthsystem.com).

Low cardiorespiratory fitness may threaten, together with the present obesity epidemic, to shorten life expectancy over the next few decades (www.coo.health.usyd.edu.au). Therefore, cardiorespiratory fitness has been suggested to be included in the European Health Monitoring System for the adult population.

It has been suggested that cardiorespiratory fitness should also be included in the health monitoring systems from the ...