Proven Fitness Research

The Cooper Center Longitudinal Study has produced more than 700 papers published in peer-reviewed journals over the past 55 years. The following are a few key publications proving fitness is a vital sign of health. 

Physical Fitness and All-cause Mortality. A Prospective Study of Healthy Men and Women.
JAMA. 1989 Nov 3;262(17):2395-401.

Changes in Physical Fitness and All-cause Mortality: A Prospective Study of Healthy and Unhealthy Men.
JAMA, 273: 1093-1098, 1995.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness is Inversely Associated with the Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome: A Prospective Study of Men and Women.
Circulation. 2005 Jul 26;112(4):505-12.

Midlife Fitness and the Development of Chronic Conditions in Later Life.
Arch Intern Med. 2012 Sep 24;172(17):1333-40.

The Association Between Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness Levels and Later-Life Dementia: A Cohort Study.
Ann Intern Med. 2013 Feb 5;158(3):162-8.

Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Incident Cancer and Survival After Cancer in Men.
JAMA Oncology. 2015;1(2):231-237.

Association Between Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Risk of Stroke: The Cooper Center Longitudinal Study.
Stroke. 2016 Jul;47(7):1720-6.

Association of Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness with Incident Depression and Cardiovascular Death After Depression in Later Life.
JAMA Psychiatry. 2018 Sep 1;75(9):911-917.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Middle Age and Health Care Costs in Later Life.
J Am Coll Cardiol, 2015 Oct 27;66(17):1876-85.