A new study suggests that women who do badly on an exercise test are more likely to die of heart disease.
An exercise test on a treadmill is a good way of assessing the heart's capacity to deal with everyday demands. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University now reveal just how significant the treadmill test can be for women.

They have been following a group of women who had a treadmill test at the start of the study. Thos who did not do well, in terms of how long they could exercise and how fast they recovered, had a higher risk of dying from heart disease in the future, even if they had no obvious risk factors. The study covered around 3,000 women aged 30 to 80. The findings suggest that exercise and fitness might be even more important for women than previously believed.