Determining Cardiorespiratory Fitness with Precision: Compendium of Findings from the FRIEND Registry

Healthy living (HL) behaviors and characteristics are central to both preventing and treating a myriad of chronic diseases; a key HL characteristic is cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Knowing an individual’s CRF provides vital information when assessing health status and formulating a plan of care. Normative reference values as well as thresholds that denote varying degrees of health and future risk for measures of CRF. However, improving upon the precision of CRF reference standards according to key factors as well as precision in how CRF assessments can be used to assess health status and prognosis is needed. The current review will: 1) provide an overview of current approaches to CRF assessment and interpretations; 2) describe more recent efforts to improve upon the precision of CRF values; and 3) describe the Fitness Registry and the Importance of Exercise: A National Data Base (FRIEND) for the precision of CRF as a clinical measure.