Psychological well-being, cardiorespiratory fitness, and long-term survival Ortega Porcel, Francisco Bartolomé Lee, Duck-Chul Sui, Xuemei Kubzansky, Laura D. Ruiz Ruiz, Jonatan Baruth, Meghan Castillo Garzón, Manuel J. Blair, Steven N. Body mass index Cardiovascular physiological phenomena Exercise test Leisure activities Life expectancy Motor activity Oxygen consumption Physical fitness BACKGROUND: Psychological well-being is associated with mortality/survival. Although cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is one of the strongest predictors of mortality, studies examining the relationship between well-being and survival seldom account for the possible effects of CRF. PURPOSE: This study examined the independent associations of psychological well-being components (low level of negative emotion and high level of positive emotion) and CRF, as well as their combined effects, with survival. METHODS: Participants (N=4888) were examined in 1988-1997 and followed up for a median period of ∼15 years (212 deaths, 4.3%). CRF was assessed by a maximal exercise test on a treadmill. Low-level negative emotion was defined as the minimum score of the negative emotion subscale of the CES-D scale and high-level positive emotion as the maximum score of the positive emotion subscale. Results are presented as hazard ratios (95% CIs). Data were analyzed in 2009. RESULTS: After adjustment for a set of established risk factors, men and women with low levels of negative emotion had lower risk of death than those with higher levels of negative emotion, 0.66 (95% CI=0.50, 0.87). The association persisted after additional adjustment for CRF and positive emotion. High level of positive emotion was not associated with survival. A high level of CRF independently predicted lower risk of death, 0.54 (95% CI=0.37, 0.79), compared to a low level of CRF. The risk of death in participants with both a low level of negative emotion and a high level of CRF was 0.37 (95% CI=0.22, 0.63), compared to their peers with higher levels of negative emotion/low levels of CRF. CONCLUSIONS: Low levels of negative emotion and high levels of CRF are independent predictors of long-term survival in men and women. A strong combined effect was observed, as individuals with both a low level of negative emotion and a high level of CRF had a 63% lower risk of premature death than those with higher levels of negative emotion and a low level of CRF. 2013-10-29T11:10:57Z 2013-10-29T11:10:57Z 2010 journal article Ortega Porcel, F.B.; et al. Psychological well-being, cardiorespiratory fitness, and long-term survival. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 39(5): 440-448 (2010). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/28880] 0749-3797 PMC2962920 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/28880 10.1016/j.amepre.2010.07.015 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Elsevier