The role of cardiorespiratory fitness on quality of life in midlife women.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to characterize the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and quality of life in a sample of healthy midlife women aged 40 to 65 years. METHODS: Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured with a VO2max test. Quality of life was assessed with the menopause-specific Utian Quality of Life scale (UQOL). The UQOL measures overall quality of life, which comprises health, emotional, occupational, and sexual domains. Simple and multiple linear regression models were built to analyze relationships between cardiorespiratory fitness and overall quality of life as well as the separate UQOL domains. RESULTS: Forty-nine women with an average age of 52.5 years were included in the analysis. In simple linear models, cardiorespiratory fitness was related to overall (R2 = 0.34, P < 0.001), health (R2 = 0.55, P < 0.001), emotional (R2 = 0.08, P = 0.05), and occupational (R2 = 0.09, P = 0.03) quality of life. In multiple regression models, cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with overall (P < 0.01) and health (P < 0.001) quality of life, after controlling for physical activity, age, body mass index, and time sedentary. CONCLUSIONS: Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better quality of life during midlife, particularly in the health domain. Increasing cardiorespiratory fitness may be a useful means to promote quality of life in this population.