title: Assessment of a one-page questionnaire on long-term recreational physical activity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of several chronic diseases. Although there is considerable published research on methods to assess current or recent recreational physical activity, there are few short, self-administered questionnaires designed to assess long-term physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed a one-page questionnaire to capture data on usual recreational physical activity during the preceding 10 years. This questionnaire was used in a cohort study of adults age 50 to 75 years residing in western Washington state. To examine the measurement characteristics of this questionnaire, we compared metabolic equivalent task (MET)-hours derived from this short questionnaire to MET-hours estimated from a detailed comparison interview in a subsample (n = 217) and to current body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms/height in square meters) in the full sample of 57,811 persons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The age- and sex-adjusted partial Pearson correlation coefficient for total recreational activity between the 2 instruments was 0.68. In the full cohort, BMI was inversely correlated with physical activity as assessed by the one-page questionnaire (r = -0.22).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This short questionnaire measures long-term physical activity at a level of precision appropriate to the examination of associations in studies of physical activity and disease.
authors.affiliation: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Public Health Sciences, Seattle, Washington 98109-1024, USA. alittman@fhcrc.org
authors.forename: Alyson J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Littman
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Alan R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kristal
authors.forename: Ruth E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Jessie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Satia-Abouta
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Potter
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010809:Physical Fitness; D011998:Recreation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires