Treadmill exercise testing of mass screening for coronary risk factors.

The prevalence of an abnormal maximal treadmill stress test (MTST) was correlated with coronary risk factors in 1,077 asymptomatic adults (709 men and 368 women) in Long Beach, California. Of 1,077 adults, 113 (10.5%) had a positive MTST. A positive MTST was correlated with sex (p less than 0.001), age (p less than 0.001), a serum cholesterol less than or equal to 200 mg% (p less than 0.02), hypertriglyceridemia (p less than 0.05), cigarette smoking (p less than 0.025), and with the number of coronary risk factors (p less than 0.005) but not with hypertension, cigar or pipe smoking, obesity, or blood sugar.