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News : Study Equates Lack of Fitness to Early Death Risk Among Women; Creates Prescriptive Exercise Chart
Fitcommerce - USA, August 8 2005 -- A recent study reaffirms that lack of fitness leads to premature death in women. However, the research group took it a step further to quantify just what level of fitness is necessary to foster optimal health. There has been data available in the past, but it didn't specifically isolate women who have different needs than men.
They have tried to simplify the process by creating a quick chart that women and their doctors can use to prescribe fitness. It is hoped that this simplification will get more women to understand the need of fitness and at what level.
"Women are not small men, they are women."
-- Dr. Martha Gulati, Cardiologist Northwestern Memorial Hospital
New Chart Developed
For the first time, researchers have developed a chart that can tell women what level of exercise they need to stay fit at any given age. A study conducted by the same team reveals that falling short of the age-specific exercise targets can significantly increase the risk of premature death.
"Despite extensive research on the role of exercise stress testing and exercise capacity, there has been a lack of data on what is normal or expected for healthy women," said lead researcher Dr. Martha Gulati, a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Gulati said that until now, women have been evaluated using a nomogram or chart developed for men. "We are finding - surprise, surprise - that women are not small men, they are women," she said, "the fact is we need guidelines for women that are based on women. We now have that set of standards for women."
The chart shows what level of exercise is needed at any age to reach maximum fitness. Any result greater than 100 per cent indicates better-than-average performance; any below that indicates some degree of functional impairment for age.
So, for instance, a 60-year-old woman performing at a level of seven METs on a treadmill would intersect the graph at 100 % of her age-predicted fitness level. (METs are a measurement of the intensity of physical activity.)
Women on Treadmill with HeartFlex
We've always know exercise is good for both men and women, a new study can tell women exactly how much exercise is required to prolong life, and it's in a simple to use chart.
But a 30-year-old achieving seven METs would reach only 62 % capacity, a level that could prove dangerous over time, said Gulati, a Canadian from Bright's Grove, Ont., who trained at the University of Toronto.
That's because a long-term study by Gulati and fellow researchers found that an exercise capacity below 85 % boosted the risk of premature death.
The study, published in the latest New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 5,721 women with no symptoms of heart disease and 4,471 symptomatic women, all of whom were given treadmill stress tests. The nomogram was then used to determine the percentage of predicted exercise capacity for both groups.
The researchers kept track of the women, following how many had died and of what causes by the end of 2000, then correlated mortality rates and exercise capacity. Achieving Less Than 85 % of Fitness Level Doubles Chances of Dying
"For those women who achieved less than 85 % of their age-predicted fitness level, they were twice as likely to die from any cause," said Gulati, "and they were almost two and half times more likely to die from cardiac causes."
The Data Display on Cardio Machines Don't Mean Much to Most Women
Many exercise machines in gyms, such as treadmills and stationary bikes, show how many METs are being performed during a workout. "But most people don't know what they mean so they ignore them," she said, noting that the nomogram could help women tailor their workouts to achieve optimal exercise capacity for their age.
Gulati hopes organizations such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American Heart Association will endorse the use of the women's nomogram to doctors, who could use it to help assess fitness levels of their female patients.
"We screen for their high blood pressure. We screen for their cholesterol. We need to be screening for their fitness," she said. "This is just as important as any other traditional cardiac risk factor."
Dr. Beth Abramson, a spokeswoman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, said the study shows that fitness for a woman and a man of the same age may be slightly different, "and we have to compare women to women and men to men."
(source : www.fitcommerce.com)
