Physical activity surveillance in the 21 st century

Physical Inactivity in a country in transition: a population-based survey in Tirana City, Albania

“…Consequently, it was not possible to assess total daily physical activity level, energy expenditure, or physical fitness. Future surveys of physical activity level in Albania should attempt to provide a more complete assessment of physical activity since using only one screening question to identify sedentary behaviour during leisure time may not be sufficient to target physical activity messages efficiently (15) and since measuring only leisure-time physical activity may under-represent the physical activity experience of many adults (16). While recognizing these weaknesses, this study provides new data to suggest a low level of physical activity level in the Albanian population and the pressing need to investigate these findings further.…”

Factors Associated with Exercise Participation in Adults with Arthritis

“…Participants responded to a modified version of the 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) physical activity module during a brief telephone screening using the protocol established by the U.S. CDC (2001a). The 2001 BRFSS questions were designed to evaluate leisure-time moderate, vigorous, and strength-training activities including lifestyle activities such as vacuuming, gardening, and yard work (Macera et al, 2000). Consistent with the literature examining the benefits of exercise for people with arthritis and with the methods used in the aforementioned qualitative study, for the purpose of this study we modified the questions to obtain information on structured exercise only while excluding information on lifestyle-based activity.…”