Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The prevalence of obesity in Canada is increasing, with the greatest increase seen in class II and class III obesity. It is well established that obesity is associated with many chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and increased risk of all-cause mortality. Surprisingly, there are a portion of obese individuals who are healthier than their normal-weight counterpart, which is believed to be attributed to having high cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). High CRF is associated with more favourable health outcomes and a lower risk of mortality, however this is currently only studied in populations of normal weight, overweight and class I obesity. The purpose of this study is to examine if the beneficial effect of high CRF is still observed in class II and class III obesity. Patients from the Wharton Medical Clinic, a referral based weight management clinic, will undergo a standardized maximal treadmill test and then be categorized into fit and unfit groups. The risk of elevated metabolic risk factors, such as fasting glucose, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure, will be compared between fit and unfit class I, II, and III obesity groups in order to see if any effect of CRF exists. Given the disproportionately large increase in class II and III obesity, it is important to understand if high CRF is still beneficial to health in these higher obese classes. This is necessary in order to tailor interventions towards either fitness or weight loss to allow for individuals of higher level obesity to reap any benefits of high CRF as observed in leaner populations.