Need for increased promotion of physical activity by health care professionals

Health care professionals play an integral role in promoting health-enhancing behaviors, such as physical activity. However, the extent to which health care professionals promote physical activity to inactive adults is relatively unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which inactive adults are encouraged by health care professionals to increase their physical activity levels.

A national sample (NHANES 2011-2012) of U.S. adults (n=4315; ≥20yrs) completed a questionnaire assessing their physical activity levels (work, transportation, and recreation) and the degree to which healthcare professionals encouraged them to exercise in the past year.

In 2012, only 36.3% of adult Americans who had received healthcare in the past 12months had been told by a health care professional to increase their exercise. Among adults reporting no exercise engagement, only 44.9% of them had been told by a health care professional to increase their exercise levels. A low prevalence of exercise promotion was also observed for other various parameters, such as weight status, number of comorbidities, and race-ethnicity.

The majority of completely sedentary U.S. adults in 2012 were not told by a health care professional to increase their exercise levels.