Originally published August 9 2005
Researchers develop method for evaluating exercise limits in women
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Chicago researchers have developed a new test to establish how much exercise women should get as they age.
Women whose exercise capacity was less than 85 percent of what it should be were twice as likely to die within eight years, the researchers found.
Until now, the only guidelines available were based on men and it wasn't certain whether they applied to women as well.
But as more women are being included in medical research, gender differences in some diseases and other health issues are emerging.
They used the results of 5,721 exercise stress tests on women over 35 to figure out what should be considered normal for them compared to the established fitness levels for men.
"In general, women's fitness levels seem to be lower regardless of her age than for men," said Dr. Martha Gulati, a Chicago cardiologist who led the study.
"Given that we live longer, it just emphasizes the importance of fitness for women," said Gulati, who along with a fellow researcher has a patent pending for the fitness guidelines.
Treadmill stress tests are routinely used to diagnose heart disease, often after someone complains of symptoms such as chest pains or shortness of breath.
Their exercise capacity was estimated in metabolic equivalents (METs), based on the speed and grade of the treadmill.
Gulati and her colleagues also tested their fitness equation to see how well it predicted survival during the eight years the volunteers were followed and in another group of 4,471 women with heart-disease symptoms who were followed for five years.
In both groups, women who did under 85 percent of their MET level had twice the risk of death compared to those who did more than 85 percent.
"We hope that this report will provide a stimulus to reintroduce fitness assessments into the routine clinical environment for both women and men," they wrote.
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