title: Physical exercise in southern Germany: a cross-sectional study of an urban population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of physical exercise and self-assessment of physical fitness (PF) and their relationship to health- and behaviour-specific factors in a randomly selected sample of an urban population in southern Germany.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the southern German city of Leutkirch.
  
  
  METHODS
  2187 subjects randomly selected from the registry of inhabitants. Of the selected group, aged 18-65 years, 52.1% were women and 47.9% men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were asked how many hours per week they spent on physical exercise and sports. They were also asked to rate their own performance and/or PF.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 38.9% of the participants reported no physical exercise. Men reported a higher level of physical exercise than did women. Less exercise was reported by subjects with diabetes, high body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio and by those who were underweight. Alcohol consumption, smoker status and higher educational level showed a positive association with physical exercise. A negative trend with respect to moderate physical exercise was observed for those with metabolic syndrome, diabetes, hypertension and hepatic steatosis, but this was statistically significant only for subjects with diabetes. In both men and women, there was a relationship between self-assessed 'good' PF and high physical exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data show that a large proportion of the study population is not physically active; specific risk groups (overweight subjects, older subjects, smokers or subjects with low educational level) are even less active. The data suggest that there is a great potential for measures promoting physical exercise in these groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Elli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rupps
authors.forename: Mark Martin
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Haenle
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinacker
authors.forename: Richard Andrew
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Suemeyra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oeztuerk
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kratzer