Assessment of a one-page questionnaire on long-term recreational physical activity.
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.
Littman
Alyson J
AJ
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Public Health Sciences, Seattle, Washington 98109-1024, USA. alittman@fhcrc.org
White
Emily
E
Kristal
Alan R
AR
Patterson
Ruth E
RE
Satia-Abouta
Jessie
J
Potter
John D
JD
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