Exercise Capacity is The Best Predictor of Survival Among Cardiac Patients 

ROCHESTER, Minn., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A study by Minnesota's Mayo Clinic finds exercise capacity is a powerful predictor of survival or death in patients with heart disease.

Researchers put a group of 282 patients, 17 percent of them women, through cardiopulmonary treadmill testing at the end of cardiac rehabilitation. The patients ages averaged 61 and they were followed for an average 9.8 years.

Exercise capacity, as measured by the amount of oxygen a patient takes in during 5 to 15 minutes on the treadmill, proved to be closely linked to survival. Researchers said that few of the group died in the early years of the study but within 10 years 42 percent of the patients with low oxygen capacity were dead.

The best predictor of survival in cardiac patients is their capacity for exercise," said Thomas Allison, the study's lead author.

Allison said that patients can contribute to their own survival by exercising regularly, improving their capacity.