The number of push-ups a man can do in a GP’s room may be a good predictor of his risk of developing heart disease, new research suggests.

In a study of more than 1100 male firefighters followed for 10 years, researchers found the risk of atherosclerosis or cardiovascular events, such as stroke and heart attack, was 96% lower among men who could do 40 or more push-ups during timed tests than among men who could do fewer than 10.

The findings in JAMA Network Open could lead to an easy test for heart disease risk, said the study’s lead author Dr Justin Yang, a researcher at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

“Using push-ups could be a no-cost and simple method to assess one’s functional capacity and predict future cardiovascular event risk,” Dr Yang said.