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News : Chart to measure women's fitness levels
Irish Health - Ireland, August 4 2005 -- Researchers have developed a special chart, which can gauge what a woman's fitness level should be at any given age, therefore also predicting her risk of death.
The chart - known as a nomogram - was developed by doctors at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The participant's exercise capacity is measured using a treadmill test and their fitness level is then determined using the nomogram.
According to the researchers, women whose exercise capacity is less than 85% of their age-predicted levels, have twice the risk of death, compared to those who reach at least 85%.
To develop the chart, over 10,000 women underwent a recognised treadmill test designed to determine a person's stress levels.
"This is the first study of its kind in women. 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. Until now, they have been evaluated using the men's nomogram, which does not provide an accurate assessment for women", said Dr Martha Gulati, a cardiologist at the hospital.
She explained that using a male nomogram to assess women can lead to inaccurate results, for example, a woman might be told she is at a higher risk of death when this is not the case.
"As age increases, so does the difference in predicted exercise capacity between men and women. Use of the men's nomogram in this study group would have resulted in hundreds more false positive tests", Dr Gulati added.
Details of these findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
(source : www.irishhealth.com)
