title: [Prediction of aerobic fitness without stress testing and applicability to epidemiological studies: a systematic review].
abstract: Cardiorespiratory fitness is used as an independent factor for evaluating risk of all-cause mortality, but mainly from coronary heart disease. Nevertheless, evaluation of fitness based on stress tests poses numerous epidemiological difficulties. Alternative forms of evaluation have therefore been suggested using non-exercise-based regression models. This study aimed to analyze these models and their applicability to epidemiological studies. A systematic review was conducted of articles published from 1966 to 2002. The models were classified according to: (a) theoretical justification for the explanatory variables included in the model; (b) validation criteria (gold standard); (c) regression models fully reported, including standard error of estimation; and (d) cross-validation. The search process yielded 23 studies, five of which met all established quality criteria. The authors conclude that cardiorespiratory evaluation by non-exercise-based models could be feasible in epidemiological studies. However, few equations appear to meet the minimum external validation requirements to provide data that could be generalized to large populations.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Epidemiologia, Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. geraldoneto@infolink.com.br
authors.forename: Geraldo de Albuquerque
authors.initials: Gde A
authors.lastname: Maranhão Neto
authors.forename: Paulo Mauricio Campanha
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Lourenço
authors.forename: Paulo de Tarso Veras
authors.initials: Pde T
authors.lastname: Farinatti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010809:Physical Fitness