Begun in 1987, the VETS is an ongoing, prospective evaluation of veteran subjects referred for exercise testing for clinical reasons, designed to address exercise test, clinical, and lifestyle factors and their association with health outcomes. The data base has been useful in answering many epidemiological questions related to the diagnostic and prognostic utility of the exercise test, evaluating the influence of various risk factors on outcomes, and in assessing cost implications of lifestyle factors such as fitness and physical activity patterns. Furthermore, it has been used to document and possibly explain the obesity paradox. It contains demographic, clinical and extensive exercise test results on over 10,000 patients followed for vital status for a median of 14 years.

Selected Papers

Kokkinos P, Faselis C, Myers J, Zhang J, Sui X, Apostolos T, Palant C, Chawla M. Exercise capacity and incidence of chronic kidney disease in US Veterans. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 90:461-468, 2015.

Myers J, McAuley P, Lavie C, Despres JP, Arena R, Kokkinos P, Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness as major markers of cardiovascular risk: Their independent and interwoven importance to health status. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 57:306-314, 2015.

Faselis C, Kokkinos P, Tsimploulis P, Myers J, Lavie CV,  Kyritsi F, Lovic D, Moore J. Exercise capacity and atrial fibrillation risk in veterans: A cohort study. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 91:558-556, 2016.

Kokkinos P, Faselis C, Myers J, Narayan P, Sui X, Zhang J, Lavie CJ, Moore H, Karasik P, Fletcher R. Cardiorespiratory fitness and incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events in US veterans: A cohort study. Mayo Clin Proceedings 92:39-48, 2017.

Mueller J, Chan K, Froelicher V, Myers J. Exercise capacity and the late onset of dementia and cognitive impairment. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 92:211-217, 2017.

Myers J, Kokkinos P, Chan K, Dandekar E, Yilmaz B, Nagare A, Faselis C, Soofi M. Cardiorespiratory fitness and reclassification of risk for incidence of heart failure: The Veterans Exercise Testing Study. Circulation: Heart Failure, PMID 28572213, 2017.

Vainshelboim B, Muller J, Lima R, Nead KT, Chester C, Chan K, Kokkinos P, Myers J.  Cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity and cancer mortality in men. Preventive Medicine 100;89-94, 2017.

Mueller J, Ganesh S, Myers J. Risk factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder in US Veterans: A cohort study. PLOS ONE, 12 (7): e0181647, 2017.

Kokkinos P, Faselis C, Nylen E, Sui M, Zhang J, Myers J. Cardiorespiratory fitness and incidence of type 2 diabetes in United States Veterans on statin therapy. Amer J Med;130:1192-1198, 2017.

Vainshelboim B, Rao S, Chan K, Ashley E, Myers J. A comparison of methods for determining the ventilatory threshold: implications for surgical risk stratification. Can J Anesth 64:634-642, 2017.

Muller J, Chan K, Myers J. Association between exercise capacity and late onset of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive impairment. Mayo Clin Proc 92:211-217, 2017.

Vainshelboim B, Muller J, Lima RM, Nead KT, Chester C, Chan K, Kokkinos P, Myers J. Cardiorespiratory fitness and cancer incidence in men. Ann Epidmiol 27:442-447, 2017.

Vainshelboim B, Amin A, Christle J, Hebbal S, Ashley EA, Myers J. A method for determining exercise oscillatory ventilation in chronic heart failure: Prognostic value and practical applications. Int J Cardiol 249:287-291, 2017.

Baktir M, Ceran Y, Phillips C, Myers J. Exercise capacity and mortality in Veterans with and without type-2 diabetes: An analysis using propensity matching. Acta Endocrinologica 13: 378-384, 2017

Muller J, Chan K, Myers J. Association between exercise capacity and late onset of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment. Mayo Clin Proc 92:211-217, 2017.

Vainshelboim B, Amin A, Christle JW, Hebbal S, Ashley EA, Myers J. A method for  determining exercise oscillatory ventilation in heart failure: Prognostic value and practical implications. Int J Cardiol 249:287-291, 2017.

Narayan P, Doumas M, Kumar A, Faselis CJ, Myers JN, Pittaras A, Kokkinos PF.

Impact of cardiorespiratory fitness on mortality in black male veterans with resistant systemic hypertension. Am J Cardiol 120:1568-1571, 2017.

Myers J, Doom R, King R, Fonda H, Abella J, Froelicher V, Chan K, Kokkinos P. Association between cardiorespiratory fitness and health care costs: The Veterans Exercise Testing Study. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 93:48-55, 2018.

Muller J, Myers J. Association between physical fitness, cardiovascular risk factors, and Parkinson’s disease. Eur J Prev Cardiology 25:1409-1415, 2018.

Kokkinos P, Narayan P, Myers J, Franklin B. Cardiorespiratory fitness and the incidence of chronic disease. Journal of Clinical Exercise Physiology 7: 37-45, 2018.

Davidson T, Vainshelboim B, Kokkinos P, Myers J, Ross R. Cardiorespiratory fitness versus physical activity as predictors of all-cause mortality in men. Am Heart J 196:156-162, 2018. 

Vainshelboim B, Cheng Z, Kokkinos P, Myers J. Cardiorespiratory fitness, adiposity, and cancer mortality in men. Obesity 25; Suppl 2:S66-S71, 2018.

de Souza de Silva CG, Kokkinos P, Doom R, Loganathan D, Fonda H, Chan K, de Araújo CGS, Myers J. Association between cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity, and health care costs: The Veterans Exercise Testing Study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2019;43:2225-2232.  

Vainshelboim B, Dobin G, Myers J, Oliiveira O, Izhakian S, Unterman A, Rueven-Kramer M. Safety of exertional desaturation in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: An electrcardiography study. Clin Respir J;12:2426–2432, 2018.

Vainshelboim B, Lima RM, Myers J. Cardiorespiratory fitness and cancer incidence in women – A prospective pilot study. Journal of Sport and Health Science 8:457-462, 2019.

Vainshelboim B, Lima R, Edvardsen E, Myers J. Cardiorespiratory fitness, incidence of mortality and lung cancer in men: A prospective cohort study. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 22:403-407, 2019.

Kokkinos P, Faselis C, Franklin B, Lavie C, Sidosis L, Moore H, Karasik P, Myers J. Cardiorespiratory fitness, body mass index, and heart failure incidence. Eur J Heart Fail 21:436-444, 2019.