In this prospective study, a total of 15,660 (8,911 Caucasians and 6,749 African Americans) male veterans from the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Washington, DC, and Palo Alto, CA, were followed for a period of 7.5 years. The main objective was to investigate the relationship between exercise capacity and mortality in Caucasians and African Americans, the relationship being less clear in the latter groups. For every metabolic equivalent (MET) achieved, the adjusted mortality risk was reduced by 13%, independent of race. Compared with subjects who achieved less than 5 METs, individuals who achieved more than 10 METs had an unadjusted relative risk for all-cause mortality of 0.34 for Caucasians and 0.26 for African Americans, underlining the fact that a good level of cardiorespiratory fitness is associated decreased all-cause mortality. Although this notion was introduced in the literature several decades ago, this study also document the risk associated with low cardiorespiratory fitness in African American men.
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