In this retrospective data analysis of 312 patients and a median follow-up period of 67 ± 44 months VO2peak significantly predicted survival (hazard ratio: 0.886 [95 % confidence interval: 0.830; 0.946]. The optimal VO2peak threshold for discrimination of 5-year survival was 14.6 mL/kg/min, respectively, VO2peak % predicted = 55 %.