Public health surveillance of physical activity

Res Q Exerc Sport. 2000 Jun;71(2 Suppl):S97-103.

Abstract

There is a clear public health need to measure and track physical activity behavior. Surveillance systems should be flexible enough to keep up with scientific advances in identifying dose-response relationships and in developing new assessment techniques, and new ways to assess community indicators associated with physical activity. Having a strong public health surveillance system that produces data that can be used to plan, guide, and evaluate programs is essential for increasing the prevalence of an important health-related behavior: physical activity.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Exercise
  • Female
  • Health Promotion*
  • Health Surveys
  • Humans
  • Life Style
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Physical Fitness*
  • Population Surveillance / methods*
  • Public Health*