THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL-FITNESS AND DIAGNOSED CHRONIC DISEASE IN HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION MEMBERS

Purpose. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relati onship between predicted cardiorespiratory fitness (predicted VO2max) and diagnosed chronic disease. Design. A stratified random sample of i ndividuals was surveyed. Setting. Large Health Maintenance Organizatio n (HMO) in the upper Midwest. Subjects. HMO members (N = 8000), age 40 and over with none, one, or two or more of the following diagnosed ch ronic conditions: hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and heart dise ase. Measures. Predicted VO2max was estimated for those respondents wh o completed the survey providing all critical data elements (n = 4121; representing 51.5% of total sample). Predicted VO2max was compared ac ross chronic conditions using analysis of variance. The proportion of subjects across fitness quintiles by number of chronic conditions was tested using the chi(2) test. Results. Subjects without chronic condit ions showed higher predicted VO2max values (29.8 +/- 7.7 ml/kg/min) th an those with one (25.9 +/- 7.8 ml/kg/min) or two or more conditions ( 25.7 +/- 9 ml/kg/min) (p < .0001). Subjects with diabetes, hypertensio n, and heart disease reported lower predicted VO2max than their health ier counterparts (p < .0001), but this was not the case for dyslipidem ia subjects (27.6 +/- 7.6 vs. 27.4 +/- 8.2 ml/kg/min, respectively p > .58). A larger proportion of diseased subjects was in the lowest fitn ess quintile for diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, but not fo r dyslipidemia. Conclusions. As a group, chronic disease patients appe ar to have lower levels of physical fitness than subjects without chro nic disease. Physical fitness improvement in diseased populations shou ld be supported in the clinical setting