[Health Tip] Korean Cardiovascular Patients with Low Physical Fitness Have 2.2 Times Higher Disease Incidence

First Identification of the Relationship Between Koreans' Physical Fitness and Cardiovascular Disease Prognosis

A study has found that Korean cardiovascular disease patients with low exercise capacity have up to 2.2 times higher incidence of cardiovascular events.

[Image courtesy of Pixabay]

Korea University Guro Hospital announced that Professor Kim Eung-joo's research team at the Cardiovascular Center has, for the first time, identified the impact of exercise capacity on the prognosis of cardiovascular disease patients in Koreans.

Exercise capacity in cardiovascular disease patients has been known as an independent predictor affecting the occurrence of cardiovascular events and mortality. However, most studies have been conducted primarily on Western populations. The research team explained that since there are differences in exercise capacity between Westerners and Koreans, there has been a need for studies analyzing exercise capacity and cardiovascular prognosis prediction specifically in Koreans.

The research team applied Korean and Western exercise capacity nomograms to 1,178 cardiovascular disease patients who underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing (exercise stress test, direct gas exchange method) at Korea University Guro Hospital Cardiovascular Center between June 2015 and May 2020. Based on exercise capacity, patients were classified into two groups (high exercise capacity group and low exercise capacity group) for each nomogram, and the incidence of cardiovascular events and mortality prognosis were observed and compared over 18 months. An exercise capacity nomogram refers to a formula predicting expected exercise capacity.

As a result, among the groups classified using the Korean exercise capacity nomogram, the group with exercise capacity below 85% of the standard had a 2.2 times higher incidence of major cardiovascular events compared to the group with exercise capacity above 85% of the standard. In contrast, when classified using the Western exercise capacity nomogram, there was no significant difference in the incidence of major cardiovascular events between the low and high exercise capacity groups.

Professor Kim Eung-joo of Korea University Guro Hospital Cardiovascular Center stated, "This study is significant in that it defined 'reduced exercise capacity' differently according to Korean and Western standards and compared them. Since adults over their 30s generally have higher cardiopulmonary exercise capacity than Americans, applying Korean standards in this study revealed more distinctly that reduced exercise capacity influences the prognosis of cardiovascular disease patients."

Professor Park Soo-hyung of Korea University Guro Hospital Cardiovascular Center explained, "This result reconfirms the importance of using unique standard indicators based on racial or national differences in cardiopulmonary exercise capacity for predicting cardiovascular events through exercise capacity. The findings will serve as a milestone for future efforts to evaluate and improve cardiopulmonary exercise capacity in domestic cardiovascular disease patients."

The study results were published in the recent issue of the SCIE journal, the Journal of the Korean Medical Association.

Professor Kim Eung-joo (left) and Professor Park Soo-hyung at the Cardiovascular Center, Korea University Guro Hospital. [Photo by Korea University Guro Hospital]

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