[Physical activity habits among adults in Nord-Trøndelag]

This article describes the physical activity of 61,732 adults in the Norwegian county of Nord-Trøndelag. We collected information about physical activity by questionnaire during the Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey in 1984-86. Non-attendents are systematically analyzed and discussed. The article also deals with problems of defining physical activity. The frequency of physical activity gives a different measure of physical activity than does intensity and duration. 15% of the women and 14% of the men were totally inactive. If we consider physical activity at a level high enough to have a preventive effect as regards development of disease, for example, we found that 65% did not practise physical activity often enough or with sufficient intensity or duration. The groups of men aged 70-79 years and women aged 60-69 years contained the persons who practised physical activity most often, while the 20-29 age group contained those who practised physical activity with greatest intensity and for the longest time. We used age, sex, education, residential municipality and physically strenuous work as variables explaining inactivity and high activity. All the variables made a significant contribution to the logistic regression, but gave a better persons characterization of highly active than of inactive persons.