Prevention & lipidsCohort study
Longitudinal changes of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality: evidence from the UK Biobank
- Prospective cohort study
- UK Biobank
Authors' conclusion
An annual improvement as little as 1 mL/kg/min may be enough to lower CVD risk, independent of baseline CRF.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants aged 40–73 years with two cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) assessments by submaximal cycle ergometry, without prior cardiovascular disease (CVD)
- Participants
- 11,530 participants
- Exposure
- Annualized change in estimated VO₂max
- Outcome
- Incident CVD and CVD mortality
- Follow-up
- Median 14.0 years (IQR 13.0-14.6)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident CVD and CVD-related mortality, per +1 mL·kg-1·min-1·year-1 annual improvement in VO₂max
Annual improvement in VO₂maxHazard ratio (95% CI)
incident CVD
0.85(0.75–0.96)
CVD-related mortality
0.66(0.51–0.87)
Per +1 mL·kg-1·min-1·year-1 annual improvement in VO₂max, as printed
- Events: incident CVD
- 921
- Events: CVD-related fatalities
- 119
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Longitudinal changes of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality: evidence from the UK Biobank. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 17 August 2026. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwag383
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it