Cardiorespiratory fitness, adiposity, and incident asthma in adults.

Available large-scale prospective studies on adiposity and asthma used body mass index as an indicator of adiposity.1 Studies involving more accurate measures of adiposity, such as body fat percentage (BF%), are needed to confirm or contrast body mass index related results. Cardiorepiratory fitness is a strong predictor of morbidity and mortality,2 and the available literature suggests that moderate-high cardiorespiratory fitness reduces many of the health hazards associated with obesity.3 The present study aimed: 1) to examine whether cardiorespiratory fitness and/or BF% are associated with subsequent acquisition of asthma in adults; and 2) to test the hypothesis that a high cardiorespiratory fitness level can reduce the risk of incident asthma in individuals with excess adiposity.