Prevention & lipidsCohort study
Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Healthy Aging
- Prospective cohort study
- illness-death models
- linked to Medicare claims
Authors' conclusion
Higher midlife CRF was associated with longer health span, lower multimorbidity, and longer lifespan among men and women.
Study context
- Population
- Adults apparently healthy through 65 years of age, CCLS (1971–2017) linked to Medicare claims (1999–2019)25% women
- Participants
- 24,576 participants
- Exposure
- High vs moderate vs low midlife cardiorespiratory fitness
- Outcome
- Health span (years without major chronic disease), disease burden and lifespan; disease = any of 11 major chronic conditions
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Any of 11 major chronic conditions (composite), men
- High
- longer health span 2% (95% CI 1%–2%)
- High
- fewer diseases 9% (95% CI 1%–17%)
- High
- longer lifespan 3% (95% CI 2%–4%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Clinically grouped disease (cardiovascular, cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic, cancer)
- Higher fit men and women generally had later onset and fewer conditions within each group
Onset of each of the 11 chronic conditions
- Onset at least 1.5 years later, high-fit vs low-fit men and women (on average)
Subgroups (clinic visit year, age, smoking status, BMI weight status)
- Results consistent across clinical subgroups
Original publication
Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Healthy Aging. J Am Coll Cardiol. Published 22 April 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2026.02.5122
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it