Background: Adults should perform ≥150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity equivalent physical activity for substantial health benefits and >300 minutes per week for additional benefits. The authors analyzed 21 years of National Health Interview Survey data to better understand trends in aerobic physical activity participation among US adults. Methods: The authors estimated the annual prevalence (1998–2018) of self-reported leisure-time physical inactivity, insufficient activity, meeting only the minimal aerobic guideline, and meeting the high aerobic guideline overall and by selected characteristics. Prevalence differences between 1998 and 2018 were compared across subgroups and periods of significant change were identified using JoinPoint regression. Results: The prevalence of inactivity decreased from 40.5% (1998) to 25.6% (2018) while the prevalence of meeting the high aerobic guideline increased from 26.0% to 37.4%. Increases in meeting the high guideline were similar across age groups, racial/ethnic groups, levels of education, and Census regions. Increases in insufficient activity and meeting the minimal guideline were statistically significant but of relatively small magnitude. Conclusions: The prevalence of inactivity decreased and meeting the high aerobic guideline increased overall and for all subgroups from 1998 to 2018. Physical activity promotion strategies may aim to continue these trends while also narrowing persistent disparities in participation across subgroups.
Search Results
You are looking at 1 - 10 of 16 items for
- Author: Susan A. Carlson x
- Refine by Access: Content accessible to me x
Geoffrey P. Whitfield, Eric T. Hyde, and Susan A. Carlson
Kathleen B. Watson, Geoffrey P. Whitfield, Stacey Bricka, and Susan A. Carlson
Background: New or enhanced activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations is an evidence-based approach for increasing physical activity. Although national estimates for some infrastructure features surrounding where one lives and the types of nearby destinations are available, less is known about the places where individuals walk. Methods: A total of 5 types of walking trips (N = 54,034) were defined by whether they began or ended at home (home based [HB]) and trip purpose (HB work, HB shopping, HB social/recreation, HB other, and not HB trip) (2017 National Household Travel Survey). Differences and trends by subgroups in the proportion of each purpose-oriented trip were tested using pairwise comparisons and polynomial contrasts. Results: About 14% of U.S. adults reported ≥1 walking trip on a given day. About 64% of trips were HB trips. There were few differences in prevalence for each purpose by subgroup. For example, prevalence of trips that were not HB decreased significantly with increasing age and increased with increasing education and household income. Conclusions: Given age-related and socioeconomic differences in walking trips by purpose, planners and other professionals may want to consider trip origin and destination purposes when prioritizing investments for the creation of activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations where people live, work, and play.
Geoffrey P. Whitfield, Emily N. Ussery, Pedro F. Saint-Maurice, and Susan A. Carlson
Background: Understanding how participation is changing across domains of physical activity is important for monitoring progress and informing promotion efforts. The authors examined changes in physical activity participation in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007/2008 to 2017/2018. Methods: The prevalence of inactivity, insufficient activity, and meeting the aerobic physical activity guideline in multidomain physical activity and each domain (leisure time, occupational/household, and transportation) was estimated for each cycle and stratified by selected characteristics. The authors tested trends over time and overall changes (2017/2018 vs 2007/2008). Results: For multidomain physical activity, the prevalence of inactivity decreased linearly; meeting the aerobic guideline increased nonmonotonically, and the 2017/2018 prevalence (68.1%) was higher than 2007/2008 (64.1%). Similar findings were observed for adults aged ≥65 years, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, high school graduates, and adults with obesity. Domain-specific results varied, but decreasing trends in inactivity and increasing trends in meeting the guideline were consistently observed across subgroups for occupational/household activity. Meeting the guideline through transportation activity was rare. Conclusions: Increases in meeting the guideline and decreases in inactivity in multidomain activity and selected domains are encouraging results, especially among subgroups historically reporting low activity participation. Activity promotion efforts are important to maintain progress, and the transportation domain may be an underutilized source of physical activity.
Eric T. Hyde, Geoffrey P. Whitfield, John D. Omura, Janet E. Fulton, and Susan A. Carlson
Background: The National Health Interview Survey is unique among US federal surveillance systems with over 20 years of consistent assessment of muscle-strengthening and aerobic activity. The authors examined trends in the prevalence of US adults who met the muscle-strengthening (2 or more days per week) and the combined muscle-strengthening and aerobic physical activity (at least 150 min/wk of moderate-intensity equivalent activity) guidelines from 1998 to 2018. Methods: The 1998–2018 National Health Interview Survey data were analyzed. Age-adjusted prevalence of meeting the muscle-strengthening and combined aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines by selected respondent characteristics were estimated for each year and linear and higher-order trends were assessed. Results: From 1998 to 2018, prevalence of meeting the muscle-strengthening guideline increased from 17.7% to 27.6%, and meeting the combined aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines increased from 14.4% to 24.0%. All subgroups demonstrated significant increases in meeting both guideline measures over this period although trends varied across the 21 years; increasing trends were more commonly sustained in the second decade of monitoring. Conclusions: Although increasing trends in prevalence of meeting the muscle-strengthening and combined guidelines are encouraging, current prevalence estimates remain low. Opportunities exist for the continued promotion of muscle-strengthening activity using evidence-based approaches.
Tiffany J. Chen, Kathleen B. Watson, Shannon L. Michael, and Susan A. Carlson
Background: During the past decade, guidelines for youth aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity remained unchanged. Active People, Healthy NationSM highlighted school and youth strategies (eg, sports and physical education [PE]) to increase physical activity. Sex, grade, and race/ethnicity disparities exist. This study examines sex-specific trends and differences by grade and race/ethnicity for the prevalence of 5 youth physical activity behaviors from 2009 to 2019. Methods: The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey assesses adolescents (grades 9–12) meeting the aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and both guidelines (2011–2019) and sports participation and daily PE (2009–2019). Sex-stratified logistic regression assessed trends and 2009 or 2011–2019 differences by grade and racial/ethnic subgroups. Results: Decreases in meeting the aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and both guidelines were observed for nearly all male subgroups by grade and race/ethnicity, whereas female subgroups exhibited declines or no change to low prevalence. Sports and PE participation remained mostly constant; select subgroups showed decreases (ie, Hispanic males [sports]; Black males and ninth-grade females [PE]). Conclusions: Past decade prevalence and patterns suggest that school-based and other strategies for all adolescents and tailored interventions for sex-specific subgroups may be needed to supplement sports and PE in promoting high school youth physical activity.
Shifan Dai, Dianna D. Carroll, Kathleen B. Watson, Prabasaj Paul, Susan A. Carlson, and Janet E. Fulton
Background:
Information on specific types of physical activities in which US adults participate is important for community and program development to promote physical activity.
Methods:
Prevalence of participation and average time spent for 33 leisuretime aerobic activities and 10 activity categories were calculated using self-reported data from 22,545 participants aged ≥ 18 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2006.
Results:
Overall, 38% of US adults reported no leisure-time physical activities, and 43% reported 1 or 2 activities in the past 30 days. Walking was the most frequently reported activity for both men (29%) and women (38%). Among walkers, the average time spent walking was 198 minutes/week for men and 152 minutes/week for women. The most reported activities for men after walking were bicycling and yard work, and for women were aerobics and dance. For most activity categories, participation was lower among adults aged ≥ 65 years than among younger adults, and among Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic blacks than among non-Hispanic whites. Participation in most categories increased with increasing educational attainment.
Conclusions:
Participation in physical activity differs by types of activities and demographic characteristics. Physical activity promotion programs should take these differences into account when developing intervention strategies.
Kathleen B. Watson, Ginny M. Frederick, Carmen D. Harris, Susan A. Carlson, and Janet E. Fulton
Background:
There is little information on national estimates for participation in types of aerobic activities among U.S. adults. Current estimates are important to develop appropriate and effective interventions to promote physical activity and interpret bias for some activities measured with devices.
Methods:
The percentage of adults participating in specific aerobic activities was estimated overall and by demographic subgroups. The 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System respondents (N = 446,216) reported up to 2 aerobic activities they spent the most time doing during the past month.
Results:
Overall, walking (47%) was the most common activity reported and was reported more by women (54%) than men (41%). Participation in most activities declined with increasing age (P < .006). There were a number of differences in participation between race/ethnic subgroups. Participation increased with more education (P for trend < 0.006) for all activities. Participation in most activities was different (P < .002) across BMI subgroups.
Conclusions:
Walking is the most common activity, overall and among most subgroups. Other activity profiles differ by demographic subgroup. Physical activity promotion strategies that focus on identifying and addressing personal and environmental barriers and understanding demographic subgroup differences could lead to more tailored interventions and public health programs.
Prabasaj Paul, Susan A. Carlson, Dianna D. Carroll, David Berrigan, and Janet E. Fulton
Background:
Walking, the most commonly reported physical activity among U.S. adults, is undertaken in various domains, including transportation and leisure.
Methods:
This study examined prevalence, bout length, and mean amount of walking in the last week for transportation and leisure, by selected characteristics. Self-reported data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey (N = 24,017) were analyzed.
Results:
Prevalence of transportation walking was 29.4% (95% CI: 28.6%–30.3%) and of leisure walking was 50.0% (95% CI: 49.1%–51.0%). Prevalence of transportation walking was higher among men; prevalence of leisure walking was higher among women. Most (52.4%) transportation walking bouts were 10 to 15 minutes; leisure walking bouts were distributed more evenly (28.0%, 10–15 minutes; 17.1%, 41–60 minutes). Mean time spent in transportation walking was higher among men, decreased with increasing BMI, and varied by race/ethnicity and region of residence. Mean time spent leisure walking increased with increasing age and with decreasing BMI.
Conclusion:
Demographic correlates and patterns of walking differ by domain. Interventions focusing on either leisure or transportation walking should consider correlates for the specific walking domain. Assessing prevalence, bout length, and mean time of walking for transportation and leisure separately allows for more comprehensive surveillance of walking.
Kathleen B. Watson, Susan A. Carlson, Tiffany Humbert-Rico, Dianna D. Carroll, and Janet E. Fulton
Background:
Less than one-third of U.S. adults walk for transportation. Public health strategies to increase transportation walking would benefit from knowing what adults think is a reasonable distance to walk. Our purpose was to determine 1) what adults think is a reasonable distance and amount of time to walk and 2) whether there were differences in minutes spent transportation walking by what adults think is reasonable.
Methods:
Analyses used a cross-sectional nationwide adult sample (n = 3653) participating in the 2010 Summer ConsumerStyles mail survey.
Results:
Most adults (> 90%) think transportation walking is reasonable. However, less than half (43%) think walking a mile or more or for 20 minutes or more is reasonable. What adults think is reasonable is similar across most demographic subgroups, except for older adults (≥ 65 years) who think shorter distances and times are reasonable. Trend analysis that adjust for demographic characteristics indicates adults who think longer distances and times are reasonable walk more.
Conclusions:
Walking for short distances is acceptable to most U.S. adults. Public health programs designed to encourage longer distance trips may wish to improve supports for transportation walking to make walking longer distances seem easier and more acceptable to most U.S. adults.
Susan A. Carlson, Roxanna Guide, Thomas L. Schmid, Latetia V. Moore, Danielle T. Barradas, and Janet E. Fulton
Background:
Street-scale urban design policies are recommended to increase physical activity in communities. Our purpose was to examine U.S. public support for local street-scale urban design features and policies.
Methods:
Analysis is based on a cross-sectional national sample of adults (n = 4682) participating in the 2006 HealthStyles mail survey.
Results:
About 57% of adults rated local street-scale urban design as highly important in determining the amount of physical activity they obtain. Adjusted odds of rating neighborhood features as having high importance were higher in people aged ≥65 years versus those <65 and minority racial/ethnic groups versus non-Hispanic whites. Two-thirds of adults were willing to take civic action to support local street-scale urban design policy. Adjusted odds of being willing to take any action versus none was higher in non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics versus non-Hispanic whites, was higher in those with household incomes ≥$60,000 versus ≤$15,000 per year, and increased as education and perceived importance of neighborhood features increased.
Conclusions:
There are high levels of public support for local street-scale urban design policies; however, demographic differences exist in the level of support. These differences are important considerations for policymakers and for those designing community programs targeting street-scale urban design features and policies.
