Estimating VO2peak in 18-90 Year-Old Adults: Development and Validation of the FitMáx©-Questionnaire

Renske Meijer; Martijn van Hooff; Nicole E Papen-Botterhuis; Charlotte J L Molenaar; Marta Regis; Thomas Timmers; Lonneke V van de Poll-Franse; Hans H C M Savelberg; Goof Schep

doi:10.2147/IJGM.S355589

Estimating VO_2peak in 18-90 Year-Old Adults: Development and Validation of the FitMáx©-Questionnaire

Int J Gen Med. 2022 Apr 5:15:3727-3737. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S355589. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Renske Meijer^{1

2}, Martijn van Hooff^{1

2}, Nicole E Papen-Botterhuis³, Charlotte J L Molenaar⁴, Marta Regis^{3

5}, Thomas Timmers⁶, Lonneke V van de Poll-Franse^{7

8

9}, Hans H C M Savelberg², Goof Schep¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sports and Exercise, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, the Netherlands.
² Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
³ Academy, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, the Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Research & Development, Interactive Studios, Rosmalen, the Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Research and Development, Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization, Utrecht, the Net herlands.
⁸ Division of Psychosocial Research & Epidemiology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Purpose: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) plays an essential role in health outcomes and quality of life. However, it is often not assessed nor estimated. Objective CRF assessment is costly, labour intensive and not widely available. Patient-reported outcome measures estimate CRF more cost-efficiently, but current questionnaires lack accuracy. The aim of this study is to develop a new self-reported questionnaire to estimate CRF.

Materials and methods: The FitMáx©-questionnaire, consisting of only three questions assessing walking, stair climbing, and cycling capacity, was compared with the commonly used Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) and Veterans Specific Activity Questionnaire (VSAQ). These questionnaires were compared to peak oxygen uptake (VO_2peak) as measured with cardiopulmonary exercise testing. This study included 759 cardiac, pulmonary and oncologic patients and healthy persons aged 18‒90.

Results: FitMáx© strongly correlated (r = 0.94 (0.92‒0.95) SEE = 4.14 mL∙kg^-1∙min^-1) with measured VO_2peak. Bias between predicted and measured VO_2peak was -0.24 (-9.23‒8.75; 95% limits of agreement) mL·kg^-1·min^-1. The FitMáx© scored superiorly on correlation and SEE compared with the DASI and VSAQ, r = 0.75 (0.68‒0.80) SEE = 4.62 mL∙kg^-1∙min^-1 and r = 0.87 (0.83‒0.90) SEE = 6.75 mL∙kg^-1∙min^-1, respectively.

Conclusion: FitMáx© is a valid and accessible questionnaire to estimate CRF expressed as VO_2peak in clinical practice and shows substantial improvement compared to currently used questionnaires.

Keywords: cardiopulmonary exercise testing; cardiorespiratory fitness; rehabilitation; self-reported questionnaire; sports medicine.

Grants and funding

This work was partially funded by the Stichting SOS and by the National Foundation Against Cancer (NFtK).