Comparing physical activity patterns of hypertensive and nonhypertensive US adults.
BACKGROUND
Nonpharmacologic management of hypertension is an important strategy in treating people with hypertension, but little is known about patterns of physical activity among such people. We compared patterns of physical activity of adults with and without hypertension in the United States using the most recent guidelines for physical activity.


METHODS
We used data from 391,017 adults aged > or =18 years from the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and physical activity categories based on 2008 Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) guidelines. All information was self-reported.


RESULTS
The age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 27.2%, whereas the age-adjusted prevalence of meeting DHHS recommendations was 60.2% among participants with hypertension and 66.9% among participants without hypertension. After adjusting for age, gender, race or ethnicity, education, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, and histories of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), the odds ratio (OR) for meeting DHHS recommendations among participants with hypertension was 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82, 0.88) compared with those who did not have hypertension.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the majority of adults with hypertension are currently meeting national guidelines for physical activity, they are less active overall than adults who do not have hypertension.
Churilla
James R
JR
Department of Clinical and Applied Movement Sciences, Brooks College of Health, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA. j.churilla@unf.edu
Ford
Earl S
ES
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult