Leisure and occupational physical activity in relation to body mass index in men and women

Abstract

Background: When studying physical activity in relation to health it is important to use valid methods. Objective : To test the relative validity of a short physical activity questionnaire against 3 day physical activity records, and to describe leisure and occupational physical activity in men and women by body mass index(BMI).Design: The validation study included 133 men and 139 women, and the cross-sectional study 1380 men and 2281 women. All subjects were aged 37-60 years, with a BMI of 17.6-59.2 kg m-2. Results: Mean estimated physical activity level (PAL) from the 3 day activity records differed by reported grade of occupational physical activity from the short activity questionnaire (p