Exercise capacity in untrained normal adults: a nomogram for Indians.

: The exercise capacity of 155 hospital-based patients (125 males and 30 females) who underwent treadmill testing and coronary angiography for investigation of chest pain was used to derive regression equations for exercise capacity (METS) against age. A regression equation [18 - 0.16 x (age)] for males and [11 - 0.84 x (age)] for females was obtained. Using these equations an exercise capacity nomogram was developed. From this nomogram the predicted exercise capacity was calculated for another set of 228 patients (209 males and 19 females) whose treadmill tests were negative. The results confirmed that the nomogram could be applied to determine the expected and actual exercise capacity of Indians within a mean difference of 0.08 METS. This nomogram is being offered for clinical, therapeutic and preventive use for Indian patients.