Knowledge of physical activity guidelines among adults in the United States, HealthStyles 2003-2005.
BACKGROUND
We estimated percentages of US adults (>/=18 years) who knew that prior federal physical activity (PA) guidelines call for a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity PA most days (>/=5)/week using 2003 to 2005 HealthStyles, an annual mail survey.


METHODS
10,117 participants identified "the minimum amount of moderate-intensity PA the government recommends to get overall health benefits." Response options included 30/>/=5, 20/>/=3, 30/7, and 60/7 (minutes/days per week), "none of these," and "don't know." The odds of correctly identifying the guideline was modeled by participant sex, age, race/ethnicity, income, education, marital status, body mass index, physical activity level, and survey year using logistic regression.


RESULTS
25.6% of respondents correctly identified the guideline. Women were 30% more likely to identify the guideline than men (Odds Ratio [95% Confidence Limits] (OR) = 1.28 [1.15, 1.44]). Regular PA was positively associated with identifying the guideline versus inactivity (OR = 2.08 [1.73, 2.50]). Blacks and those earning <$15,000 annually were 24% to 32% less likely to identify the guideline than whites and those earning >$60,000, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Most adults did not know the previous moderate-intensity PA recommendation, which indicates a need for effective communication strategies for the new 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults.
Moore
Latetia V
LV
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Fulton
Janet
J
Kruger
Judy
J
McDivitt
Judith
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003142:Communication; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003625:Data Collection; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D016017:Odds Ratio; D040241:Social Marketing; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult