Secular trends in leisure-time physical activity in men and women across four decades.
BACKGROUND
We examined secular trends in leisure-time physical activities (LTPA) in health-conscious men (n = 1359) from 1958 to 1998 and in women (n = 839) from 1978 to 1998, who were participants of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA).


METHODS
LTPA was the self-reported time spent performing 97 activities, and was converted to metabolic equivalent of oxygen uptake (MET) minutes per day. Evaluations of LTPA were averaged for each decade. The prevalence of a sedentary lifestyle in each decade was assessed based on compliance with widely publicized recommendations for participation in physical activity. All analyses were adjusted for age, education, and race differences across decades.


RESULTS
Median high-intensity LTPA, defined as activities >/=6 METs, increased from 30 to 80 MET min/day from the 1960s to the 1990s for men (P < 0.01) but did not change between the 1970s and the 1990s in women. Moderate-intensity LTPA, defined as 4-5.9 METs, did not change significantly over these periods in either sex. The percentage of sedentary men, defined as those performing <40 MET min/day of high-intensity LTPA, declined across the four decades, whereas for women it did not change significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
In a health-conscious sample across a broad age range, national recommendations appear to have made modest progress in decreasing the proportion of sedentary adults.
Talbot
Laura A
LA
The Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD 21205-2110, USA. ltalbot@son.jhmi.edu
Fleg
Jerome L
JL
Metter
E Jeffrey
EJ
D015142:Baltimore; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004522:Educational Status; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008019:Life Style; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity