Relationship Between Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mortality in Normal-Weight, Overweight, and Obese Men

Abstract

Between 1976 and 1980 to 1988 and 1994, the prevalence of obesity in the United States increased substantially, from 14.5% to 22.5%.¹ In 1998, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization published guidelines for the treatment of obesity.^2,3 In these reports, overweight and obesity are defined, and treatment guidelines are provided for physicians. It is recommended that clinicians first classify patients by body mass index (BMI), calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters, with overweight defined as a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 kg/m² and obesity as a BMI of at least 30.0 kg/m². Further stratification of risk is recommended by considering the presence of coexisting disease and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.