Several possible studies
Story checked
The Flawed V02 Max Craze - by Eric Topol - Ground Truths (opens in a new tab)
erictopol.substack.com · 2026-02-23
Short answer
Several possible studiesNo clear answer.
More than one paper fits the article's details, and none fits well enough to single out. Checking claims against the wrong study would be worse than not checking them at all.
Checked against the study summary. The full text wasn't available, so some details couldn't be settled either way.
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The story
The Flawed V02 Max Craze - by Eric Topol - Ground Truths
erictopol.substack.com · 2026-02-23
The story’s checkable claims.
Read the original story (opens in a new tab)NewsLink checks it
Several studies could be the source of this story.
More than one paper fits the article's details, and none fits well enough to single out. Checking claims against the wrong study would be worse than not checking them at all.
Open claim evidenceSearch result
Several studies could fit.
More than one paper fits the article's details, and none fits well enough to single out. Checking claims against the wrong study would be worse than not checking them at all.
Source layer
The 3 papers the story cites
Source study separated from background citations.
The research anchor for the report.
- Cited as backgroundpresented as earlier work
Importance of Assessing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Clinical Practice: A Case for Fitness as a Clinical Vital Sign: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association
Circulation · 2016
- Cited as backgroundpresented as the new finding
Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mortality Risk Across the Spectra of Age, Race, and Sex.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2022
- Cited as backgroundpresented as earlier work
Patients' inability to perform a preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise test or demonstrate an anaerobic threshold is associated with inferior outcomes after major colorectal surgery.
British Journal of Anaesthesia · 2013
Evidence layer
Claim by claim
What the story asserts. With no source study, there is nothing to check these against.
Reading mode
Scan verdicts. Open evidence only when needed.
Claim 1 of 6Not checkedSmartwatch VO2 max estimates are notoriously imprecise and should not be treated as a dependable measure of fitness.View evidenceHide evidence
As statedmean absolute percentage error of 7-16%
Not checked
NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.
Claim 2 of 6Not checkedCardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and VO2 max are described as remarkably different, both in how they are measured and in the evidence linking them to outcomes.View evidenceHide evidence
Not checked
NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.
Claim 3 of 6Not checkedThe article criticizes claims that VO2 max is the single best predictor of longevity, saying those claims conflate VO2 max with CRF studies that did not actually measure VO2 max.View evidenceHide evidence
Not checked
NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.
Claim 4 of 6Not checkedThe author says nearly all outcome data come from exercise-based CRF measured in METs, not from direct VO2 max measurement, and that one MET higher CRF is associated with lower mortality.View evidenceHide evidence
As stated14-15% reduction in mortality per 1 MET higher CRF
Not checked
NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.
Claim 5 of 6Not checkedThe article says several large studies and a 2024 meta-analysis show strong associations between higher CRF and lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, with much more data available for MET-based CRF than for VO2 max.View evidenceHide evidence
As stated234-fold more participants with exercise CRF than by VO2 max measurements
Not checked
NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.
Claim 6 of 6Not checkedThe post says VO2 max may have a place in spartan athletes or selected cardiopulmonary patients, but otherwise argues there is no supportive evidence for people to focus on VO2 max training or smartwatch VO2 max outputs.View evidenceHide evidence
Not checked
NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.
Method layer
No single source study was found.
NewsLink still surfaces nearby research so you can inspect the field instead of a single paper.
Nearby research
No exact source, but these papers are close.
Crossref, PubMed, Europe PMC · 18 candidate papers
Importance of Assessing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Clinical Practice: A Case for Fitness as a Clinical Vital Sign: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association
Circulation · 2016 · Crossref
Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mortality Risk Across the Spectra of Age, Race, and Sex.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2022 · PubMed
Patients' inability to perform a preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise test or demonstrate an anaerobic threshold is associated with inferior outcomes after major colorectal surgery.
British Journal of Anaesthesia · 2013 · PubMed
Cardiorespiratory Fitness Reclassifies Mortality Risk Beyond Traditional Risk Factors: The ETHOS Study.
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise · 2026 · PubMed
AB0558 Association of the Metabolic Syndrome (Mets) with Vascular Complications, End Stage Renal Failure (ESRF) and Mortality in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): A Cohort Analysis
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases · 2015 · Crossref
And 13 more candidates considered.