Original paper
Long-term changes in leisure time walking, moderate and vigorous exercise: Were they influenced by the national physical activity guidelines?

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Summary

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics three cross-sectional National Health Surveys, conducted in 1989–1990, 1995–1996 and 2000, were used to examine long-term population responses to the 1996 physical activity (PA) recommendations. Past 2-week recall of the number of times and total minutes spent walking for recreation or sport, and doing moderate and vigorous exercise, were averaged for 1 week to create a measure of ‘sufficiently active’: ≥5 weekly sessions of ≥150 min/week of at least moderate-intensity activity. With the exception of adults aged >60 years, from 1989 to 2000, there were increases in the prevalence of walking (+8%) and in moderate-intensity exercise (+4%), resulting in a significant decline (−6%) in the proportion of those reporting no leisure-time exercise. Participation in vigorous exercise remained unchanged. There was a ‘population shift’ in median minutes and sessions of walking from 1995 to 2000, but the prevalence of regular walking (≥5 times and ≥150 min/week) remained unchanged. A small but significant increase (+2%) in the proportion of adults who met the PA recommendations was noted mainly for men under 60 years and for women aged 45–59 years. The proportion meeting the PA recommendations declined significantly in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged area. These data provide evidence contrary to the observed declines in PA documented by the Active Australia surveillance in the late 1990s. The population may have responded to the 1996 concept of moderate-intensity exercise mainly by walking, but sustainable promotional efforts will be required to build on these gains in the forthcoming decades.

Section snippets

Background

Physical inactivity is recognised as one of the most important risk factors for reducing the burden of chronic disease and healthcare costs in Australia and therefore an important behaviour to modify and monitor.1, 2 Population surveillance of activity levels is an effective way to assess change over time, to identify high-risk groups and to assess progress towards meeting public health guidelines. In this respect, physical activity recommendations provide an essential tool for guiding public

Methods

Access to the NHS data was obtained through the ABS confidential unit records files (CURFs) provided on compact disks (CD-ROM) and through the remote access data laboratory (RADL), which provides higher level of variable details. The University of New South Wales Ethics Committee approved the project.

The NHS is a series of cross-sectional surveys designed to obtain representative and national benchmark information on a range of health-related issues and to enable monitoring of trends in risk

Results

Table 1 presents the prevalence of any walking in the past 2 weeks by population subgroups and survey year. From 1989 to 2000, the prevalence of walking increased by 8.5%. The prevalence of walking was consistently higher among females than males for all surveys, but the change in prevalence over the years was of similar magnitude. The test for trend indicated significant changes in the prevalence of walking in most population subgroups, with the exception of older aged adults (>60 years),

Discussion

Using the 1989 NHS as a baseline, a noticeable trend of increase in walking for exercise in most population subgroups as well as an increase in moderate-intensity exercise across all population subgroups resulted in more adults exercising. This in turn was translated to a statistically significant and substantial reduction in the proportion of Australians who are at the highest risk category (not doing any LTPA), from 36 in 1989 to 30% in 2000. This favourable change has important public health

References (22)

  • Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

    National physical activity guidelines

    (1999)
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