Validity of Cooper’s 12-minute run test for estimation of maximum oxygen uptake in male university students

The present study was conducted to validate the applicability of Cooper's 12-minute run test (CRT) for predicting VO(2)max in male university students of Kolkata, India, to bypass the exhaustive and complicated protocol of direct estimation of VO(2)max. Eighty-eight sedentary male university students recruited by simple random sampling from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, were randomly assigned to the study group (N = 58) and the confirmatory group (N = 30). VO(2)max of each participant was determined by the direct procedure and the indirect CRT method. The mean value of predicted VO(2)max (PVO(2)max) (42.8±4.0 ml · kg(−1) · min(−1) with a range of 33.7–50.9) showed a significant difference with VO(2)max (39.8±4.0 ml · kg(−1) · min(−1) with a range of 33.5–47.7) in the study group. Limits of agreement between PVO(2)max and VO(2)max were large enough (0.10 to 5.94 ml · kg(−1) · min(−1)) with poor confidence intervals indicating inapplicability of the current protocol of CRT in the studied population. The prediction norm [Y = 21.01X – 11.04 (SEE = 0.193 ml · kg(−1) · min(−1))] was computed from the significant correlation (r = 0.93, P < 0.001) between distance covered in CRT and VO(2)max. Application of this norm in the confirmatory group revealed an insignificant difference between PVO(2)max and VO(2)max. The modified equation is recommended for application of CRT as a valid method to evaluate the cardiorespiratory fitness in terms of VO(2)max in sedentary male Indian youth.