Treadmill exercise testing in a middle-aged Jerusalem population sample. The Jerusalem Lipid Research Clinic Prevalence Study

We studied determinants of the exercising physical capacity of 1,640 subjects (1,043 men and 597 women) using the Bruce protocol as modified by Sheffield. These participants represented a sample of parents of 17-year-old adolescents living in Jerusalem. Apparently healthy participants underwent a graded treadmill exercise test (88% of the men and 87% of the women). Exercise was terminated when the subject achieved a heart rate of 85 to 90% of the predicted maximal heart rate or could not continue for other reasons, mainly fatigue or weakness. Exercise performance was assessed according to time on the treadmill. On univariate analysis, duration of exercise was related in both sexes to age, country of origin, reported physical exercise, resting heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index and plasma lipids and lipoproteins. In multivariate analysis, time was related to age, body mass index, heart rate and habitual physical exercise in both men and women, and to systolic and diastolic blood pressure in men only. Cigarette smoking and plasma lipid levels were not independently related to time on the treadmill in either sex. Ethnic differences were observed.