title: Exercise testing in the 21st century: from an "old" diagnostic to a novel health risk assessment tool.
abstract: Exercise testing was developed as a diagnostic tool in the first half of the 20th century when people, mostly men, paid the huge cost of coronary artery disease (CAD). Both the changing nature of CAD, which affects both men and women, and the aging of the population led to redefining the use of exercise testing. This test is now mainly used for evaluating overall prognosis. In parallel, new measurement such as exercise capacity and several components of the physiological reserve enrich the information which can be obtained from exercise testing. Therefore, exercise testing has become the major dynamic tool for predicting premature mortality far beyond traditional and disease specific risk markers. The present article reviews the main pieces of information which led to these changes and summarizes the elements which give exercise testing its utility.
authors.affiliation: Département de Cardiologie, Centre Médical de Bligny, Briis sous Forges, France and Service de cardiologie, Centre Hospitalier Sud-Francilien, Corbeil-Essonnes, France. olivier.charansonney@orange.fr
authors.forename: Olivier L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Charansonney
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*