The relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and coronary artery calcification as a marker of early subclinical atherosclerotic valvular disease was investigated in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (n=2,373 African-American and White young adults followed for 15 years). After adjusting for several confounders, there was an inverse relationship between baseline cardiorespiratory fitness and coronary artery calcification. The odds ratios of having coronary artery calcification were 0.80 (95% CI: 0.55-1.15) and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.36-0.97) for individuals who were moderately or highly fit, respectively, compared to low-fit individuals. These results indicate that there is a significant association between coronary artery calcification and cardiorespiratory fitness.