The relationship between physical activity and care-seeking behavior among employed adults.
BACKGROUND
Physical activity is regarded an important health behavior. Routine doctor visits, dentist visits, and willingness to seek phone advice from a nurse are considered important care-seeking behaviors (ie, behaviors that reflect the way in which people seek and access health care delivery resources available to them). Employers promote physical activity as well as care-seeking behavior to protect and promote health, optimize productivity, and manage health care costs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity and 3 care-seeking behaviors among a sample of 5500 employed adults.


METHODS
Data were obtained from employee health assessments. Logistic regression was used to test the relationship between physical activity and care-seeking behavior.


RESULTS
Physical activity was positively associated with all 3 measures of care-seeking behavior: doctor visits (P < .001), dentist visits (P < .001), and willingness to seek phone advice from a nurse (P < .05). For individuals reporting chronic conditions, physical activity was negatively associated with doctor visits for the condition (P < .05) and positively associated with self-perceived health (P < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Physical activity is associated with important care-seeking behaviors for employees with and without chronic conditions.
HealthPartners and HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, Minneapolis, MN.
Abigail Sherman
AS
Katz
Nicolaas Petrus
NP
Pronk
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota; D009043:Motor Activity; D009819:Office Visits; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult