Recreational exercise participation and aerobic fitness in men and women: analysis of data from a national survey.

We compared the relationship between predicted VO2 max (ml kg-1min-1) and recreational exercise patterns, using secondary data analysis of a comprehensive national survey (18,293 subjects aged 15-69 years). Exercise participation and predicted VO2 max data were available for about 50% of this sample (4933 females, 4738 males). As expected, VO2 max was significantly lower in the females than in the males at any age (P < 0.0001). Age was the most significant predictor of VO2 max (r = -0.71 for males, r = -0.73 for females). Adjusting the data for the body mass index (BMI) increased this relationship only slightly in the males (R = 0.75) and females (R = 0.79). The simultaneous inclusion of exercise participation data (intensity, duration, energy expenditure) did not increase the predictions meaningfully (R = 0.78 for the males, R = 0.81 for the females). These exercise participation parameters concomitantly accounted for only a very slight amount of the variance of VO2 max in both the females (3.0%) and males (4.5%). To minimize the effects of age, the data were analysed using 5-year intervals. Again, the exercise participation parameters accounted for only a small part of the variance in VO2 max (< 10%), except in the 15- to 19-year-old males (24%). These data suggest that VO2 max is not associated with participation in recreational exercise.