Are Canadians meeting the guidelines for moderate and vigorous leisure-time physical activity?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of Canadian adults (aged 18-55 years) who met the guidelines for moderate and vigorous physical activity set out in Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living. Leisure-time physical activity energy expenditure from moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities was calculated using data from the National Population Health Surveys (1994-1998) and the Canadian Community Health Surveys (2001-2007). The prevalence was estimated for no leisure-time physical activity, meeting only the moderate guideline, meeting both the moderate and vigorous guidelines, and meeting the guidelines through a combination of moderate and vigorous activities. Logistic regression was used to determine the odds of meeting the guidelines by various demographic characteristics. The prevalence of no activity did not change appreciably over time, ranging from 6.5% to 10%, depending on the survey year. Reporting of no activity was more prevalent among older adults, those in lower income groups, and those with a body mass index (BMI) > or =30 kg.m-2. Overall, 65% of adults met the guidelines for physical activity in 2007, which has increased from 54% in 1994-1995. Men, younger adults, those with a higher income, and those with a lower BMI more often met the guidelines. Among all subgroups, meeting the guidelines was most often accomplished through participation in moderate-intensity activities. These findings should be considered when designing and implementing public health interventions that promote participation in daily physical activity.

Identifying persons at risk for developing type 2 diabetes in a concentrated population of high risk ethnicities in Canada using a risk assessment questionnaire and point-of-care capillary blood HbA1cmeasurement

“…The concentrated efforts aimed at reaching high risk ethnicities supports the notion that the PRE-PAID questionnaire provides a unique and appropriate tool for use in public health screening initiatives that target these populations. Another limitation of this investigation is the fact that all responses to the risk questionnaire were self-reported and several studies have shown that individuals tend to under-report their weight and waist circumference [21, 22] while over-reporting their physical activity habits [23, 24]. Although this may be a limitation, it is important to realize that during many public health initiatives, questionnaires are distributed in a similar manner and self-reported data is easier and less expensive to obtain when compared to actual measurement of the various risk factors assessed on the PRE-PAID questionnaire which may require equipment and trained personnel.…”

Compliance with different physical activity recommendations and its association with socio-demographic characteristics using an objective measure

“…Previous studies have also shown that compliance rates were lower for vigorous physical activity as compared to moderate physical activity [14,18,23]. However, these studies used self-reports of physical activity and primarily focused on leisure time.…”

“…Most of the previous studies have relied on self-reports and often focused on leisure time physical activity (LTPA) [14,20,23,24]. However, these measures ignore everyday activities performed for the purpose of work, transport or household chores.…”

Advantage of Distance- versus Time-Based Estimates of Walking in Predicting Adiposity

“…Whereas objectively measured physical activity showed significant associations with cardiovascular disease risk factors [16], the time-by-intensity based calculations did not [24]. The Canadian Health Measures Survey reported that only 15% of Canadian adults (17% of men, 14% of women) engaged in 150 minutes or more per week of at least moderately vigorous physical activity in bouts of 10 minutes or longer when objectively measured [8], which is considerably less than the estimated 65% of Canadian adults who met the guidelines for physical activity in 2007 from self-reported time and intensity [5]. Doubly labeled water, among the best objective measured of physical activity, is reported have a correlation of r=0.2 with time-by-intensity physical activity estimates from questionnaires [18], which is substantially less than its correlations of r=0.5 and r=0.6 with energy expenditure from activity monitors [3,22].…”