IJCS | Volume 32, Nº4, July/August 2019

350 Table 6 - Classification of cardiorespiratory fitness - AEMA table Men Classification Percentile 7 - 12 years (n = 32) 13 - 19 years (n = 151) 20 - 29 years (n = 543) 30 - 39 years (n = 969) 40 - 49 years (n = 853) 50 - 59 years (n = 440) 60 - 69 years (n = 229) 70 - 79 years (n = 77) ≥ 80 years (n = 26) Very poor ≤ 20 < 28.77 < 34.76 < 29.79 < 28.57 < 26.53 < 24.23 < 20.61 < 18.26 < 16.11 Poor 40 28.78 - 35.30 34.77 - 39.73 29.80 - 34.41 28.58 - 32.73 26.54 - 30.43 24.24 - 27.75 20.62 - 23.79 18.26 - 20.64 16.12 - 17.20 Moderate 60 35.31 - 38.21 39.74 - 44.60 34.42 - 38.51 32.74 - 37.08 30.44 - 34.30 27.76 - 31.29 23.80 - 27.08 20.65 - 22.22 17.21 - 19.04 High 80 38.22 - 44.64 44.61 - 50.10 38.52 - 42.76 37.09 - 42.58 34.31 - 39.07 31.30 - 35.56 27.09 - 31.00 22.23 - 25.64 19.05 - 22.76 Very high 100 > 44.65 > 50.10 > 42.76 > 42.58 > 39.07 > 35.56 > 31.00 > 2 5.64 > 22.76 Women Classification Percentile 7 - 12 years (n = 25) 13 - 19 years (n = 107) 20 - 29 years (n = 471) 30 - 39 years (n = 874) 40 - 49 years (n = 759) 50 - 59 years (n = 551) 60 - 69 years (n = 322) 70 - 79 years (n = 123) ≥ 80 years (n = 16) Very poor ≤ 20 < 23.00 < 24.90 < 23.15 < 21.61 < 19.22 < 17.63 < 15.95 < 14.18 < 13.97 Poor 40 23.01 - 26.20 24.91 - 27.80 23.16 - 26.05 21.62 - 24.42 19.23 - 21.92 17.64 - 20.16 15.96 - 18.13 14.19 - 15.95 13.98 - 15.87 Moderate 60 26.21 - 29.23 27.81 - 30.44 26.06 - 29.00 24.43 - 27.10 21.93 - 24.54 20.17 - 22.33 18.14 - 20.04 15.96 - 17.78 15.88 - 17.25 High 80 29.24 - 35.15 30.45 - 35.0 29.01 - 33.00 27.11 - 30.51 24.55 - 27.92 22.34 - 25.25 20.05 - 22.29 17.79 - 20.90 17.26 - 19.11 Very high 100 > 35.15 > 35.00 > 33.00 > 30.51 > 27.92 > 25.25 > 22.29 > 20.90 > 19.11 Almeida et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness classification Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2019;32(4):343-354 Original Article to higher rates of physically inactive subjects, and a higher BMI in our sample. A Norwegian study 22 including 759 physically active individuals aged from 20 to 85 years reported higher VO 2peak values compared with our results. Again, this could be explained by the greater proportion of inactive and overweight/obese subjects in our population. However, in a Canadian study by Nelson et al., 21 involving 816 activemen, VO 2peak was similar to our study group classified as physically active. When individuals in the age group of 7-12 years were comparedwith those in the age range immediately above, there was a mean VO 2peak increase (positive percentage variation - Table 4). This seems to be associated with the lower capacity of young individuals in performing work, due to structural limitations of cardiorespiratory system (lower height), and lower anerobic production of ATP. 28,29 Analysis of VO 2peak in ten-year periods showed an expressive decrease from 50 years old on among men. Such decrease occurred from 40 years on among women and attenuated at the age of 80. We also observed a regular, inverse correlation between age and VO 2peak in our study (r = -0.488), which are similar to the findings reported by Jae et al. (r = -0.501). 30 In an AHA document, Arena et al., 31 reported that VO 2peak can decline approximately 10% per decade in nonathletic subjects, varying from 3% to 6% per decade in individuals aged between 20 and 30 years. In our study, we observed an average decrease of 10.8% in male and 8.1% in female subjects in individuals older than 20 years, with faster decline in men, as shown by Weiss et al. 32 It is important to highlight that data of more than 18,000 CPETs have been recently published. In this large retrospective study, all tests were performed in a chain of a Brazilian laboratory in the state of São Paulo. 33 CPET had been performed for check-up examination and all individuals had normal resting and exercise electrocardiography tests. Despite a robust sample, Rossi Neto et al., 33 studied a highly selected group of patients as reported by the authors themselves in their manuscript. 33 Thus, these data may not represent the actual CRF of the Brazilian population.