Family physicians can play an important role in providing lifestyle advice that aims to prevent or delay chronic disease. Given the vast amount of evidence that regular physical activity improves health and wellbeing, providing brief tailored advice in a clinic setting has the potential to make a positive impact on population health. Working side by side with physicians, the Health Promotion Board has developed the Physical Activity Advice Tool (PAAT) to enable physicians to quickly and accurately provide evidence-based tailored physical activity advice.

INTRODUCTIONCardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is an independent predictor of voluminous health outcomes and can be measured using non-exercise fitness assessment (NEFA) equations. However, the accuracy of such equations in Asian populations is unknown. The objective of this study was to cross-validate the NEFA equation, developed by Jurca et al in 2005, in the adult Singaporean population.

METHODSA total of 100 participants (57 men, 43 women; aged 18-65 years) were recruited, and their maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) was measured in the laboratory by indirect calorimetry. The participants also completed the NEFA questionnaire, which helps to predict VO2 max with the NEFA equation. The relationship between NEFA-predicted and laboratory-measured VO2 max values was analysed.

RESULTSOverall, our study demonstrated a high correlation between the NEFA-predicted and laboratory-measured VO2 max values (r = 0.83). The Pearson's correlation coefficient values for the men and women in the study were 0.61 and 0.77, respectively. To improve the accuracy of the predictive equation, we transformed the original equation developed by Jurca et al into new equations that would allow estimation of VO2 max with and without resting heart rate as a variable.

CONCLUSIONThe modified NEFA equations accurately estimated CRF and may be applied to the majority of adult Singaporeans. With this, health practitioners and researchers are now able to assess CRF levels at both the individual and population levels in either the primary care, fitness or research setting.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Exercise Test ; methods ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Statistical ; Oxygen Consumption ; physiology ; Physical Fitness ; physiology ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Reproducibility of Results ; Singapore ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult