Women who were physically fit had a lower risk of death than did sedentary women, even if their weight was above currently recommended levels, the study found.

"Fitness is a much stronger predictor of mortality than fatness," said researcher Stephen Farrell of the Cooper Institute, a Dallas-based research organization.

Farrell and his colleagues looked at data on 9,925 women with an average age of 43 who were given treadmill tests to determine their fitness.

The least-fit 20 percent were classed as low fit, the 40 percent above that were considered moderately fit and the top 40 percent were high fit.

They also were classed as being of normal weight, overweight and obese.

The researchers followed the women for an average of 11 years, during which time 195 died.

Moderately and high-fit women had about half the risk faced by low-fit women of dying from any cause, Farrell said.

The study found indications that excess weight raised the risk of death. The increase did not reach the statistical level at which researchers could say it was meaningful.

"We are not saying overweight and obesity are not important health problems. We are saying more attention should be paid to low fitness and changing that," Farrell said.

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