Cardiorespiratory fitness and the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in men with a chronic joint or bone condition

Background: The association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF) and mortality in men with joint or bone diseases is under studied. We aimed to investigate the association between CRF and risk of mortality in men with a joint or bone disease in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study.

Methods: Participants were 12,744 men (mean ± SD age 47± 9.34yr) who reported having at least one joint or bone condition (joint pain, low back pain, stiff joint, arthritis, and gout) at baseline, and completed a maximal treadmill exercise test during an examination at the Cooper Clinic, Dallas, TX between 1987 and 2003. CRF was quantified as maximal treadmill exercise test duration and was grouped for analysis as low, moderate, and high. Using Cox regression analyses, we computed hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: A total of 259 deaths occurred during an average 16 years follow-up. After adjusting for age, examination year, smoking, drinking, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and physically inactive; hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) across ascending categories of CRF were 1.00 (referent), 0.46 (0.31-0.61), 0.34 (0.22-0.53) for all-cause mortality (trend P <0.000); 1.00 (referent), 0.50 (0.23-1.10), 0.30 (0.13-0.74) for cardiovascular disease mortality(CVD) (trend P <0.010); and 1.00 (referent), 0.39 (0.20-0.75), 0.40 (0.20-0.79) for cancer mortality (trend P =0.067) respectively.

Discussion: Moderate levels of CRF were significantly associated with lower risk of all-cause and cancer mortality in men with a prevalent joint or bone condition. However, it seems that high CRF level is needed to reduce the risk of CVD mortality.