Development and use of a tool for assessing sidewalk maintenance as an environmental support of physical activity.

The importance of regular physical activity is well documented, yet according to epidemiological surveillance data, physical inactivity among all age groups persists. Past attempts to promote physical activity focused on individual-level changes; current approaches focus on environmental changes that will provide opportunities for whole communities to be active. The current ecological focus has led to an increase in funding and research regarding environmental supports of physical activity. As this is a new area of research, much work needs to be done to improve the ability to assess environmental features that support physical activity. This article describes a partnership between researchers and community members to develop and test an objective tool to measure sidewalk maintenance. Community members used data collected with the tool to increase awareness about sidewalk maintenance issues among local policy makers. Collaboration between researchers and community partners was critical for the success of this study.

Association of body mass index to meeting physical activity recommendations.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between BMI and physical activity based on the CDC-ACSM recommendation and a more demanding standard consistent with the IOM recommendation. METHODS: A random-digit-dialed survey (n=1810) used 2001 BRFSS questions to measure physical activity. RESULTS: Data revealed a monotonic association between BMI and physical activity level. Lower odds of meeting both recommendations were associated with higher BMI. The proportion meeting the CDC-ACSM recommendation was at least 3 times that of persons meeting the IOM-based recommendation. CONCLUSIONS: Meeting either recommendation was associated with BMI; however, a larger proportion of persons were meeting the less demanding CDC-ACSM recommendation.

Awareness and use of community walking trails.

BACKGROUND: Community trail development is an emerging strategy to increase physical activity (PA) among community residents. The purpose of this study was to assess awareness and use of trails and compare perceptions to objective data. METHODS: A telephone survey was administered to a stratified sample of adults (N = 1,112) in a southeastern county in the United States. Respondents' home addresses and the locations of trails were entered into a GIS database. A kappa statistic was used to measure agreement between awareness and presence of trails. Differences in reported trail use patterns by sex, race, education, and PA levels were evaluated. RESULTS: There was no agreement between the awareness and presence of trails (kappa = 0.07). Fifty-six percent of the respondents reported having trails; however, only 33% reported using the trails. Of the trail users, 42% reported being regularly active in moderate-to-vigorous PA (30+ min/day for 5+ days/week), and 51% reported being less active (P < 0.003). Among walkers (> or =30 min/day for > or =5 days/week), 49% of regular walkers and 35% of irregular walkers (< walkers) reported using the trails (P < 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of existing trails in this community and levels of use were low. Marketing programs should promote awareness and use of trails among older adults and irregularly active adults.