Long-Term Exercise and Risk of Metabolic and Cardiac Diseases: The Erlangen Fitness and Prevention Study

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the exercise and the control groups.

Variable	Exercise; EG (𝑛=51)	Control; CG (𝑛=43)
Age (years)	54.8±3.6	55.8±3.2
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	24.8±3.0	25.6±3.6
Body fat (%)^b	35.8±4.6	35.2±5.8
Age at menarche (years)^a	13.1±1.4	13.3±1.6
Age at menopause (years)^a	50.6±3.1	50.6±3.3
Volume of exercise (min/week)^a	89±84	75±66
Physical activity (Index)^a,c	4.1±1.2	4.0±1.3
VO2 peak (mL/min/kg)^d	25.3±6.3	25.3±5.9
Energy intake (MJ/d)^e	7.75±1.39	7.69±1.85
Fat intake (% of energy intake)^e	35±8	36±7
Smokers (%)^a	14	12
Diabetes (%)^a	4	5
Prevalence metabolic syndrome (%)^f	12	12

No significant between-group differences were determined. aAs determined by questionnaire; ^bas determined by bioimpedance analysis (Tanita BF 305, Tokyo, Japan); ^cas determined by physical activity questionnaire (1: very low to 7: very high) [15], ^dstepwise treadmill test to voluntary maximum; ^e5-day dietary analysis (Prodi-4.5/03, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Freiburg, Germany); ^faccording to NCEP-ATP III.