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Overview
Is there a sufficient evidence base for the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a comprehensive set of physical
activity guidelines for Americans? To address this question, the Food
and Nutrition Board and the Board on Population Health and Public
Health Practice, both of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), collaboratively
planned the Workshop on the Adequacy of Evidence for Physical
Activity Guidelines Development. The workshop, which was sponsored
by DHHS, was held in Washington, DC, on October 23–24, 2006.
Thirty expert research scientists and physical activity practitioners
from government and academia gave formal presentations during the
workshop. The invited workshop moderators, speakers, and discussants
were asked to consider the available evidence related to physical activity
and the general population, as well as special population subgroups
including children and adolescents, pregnant and postpartum women,
older adults, and persons with disabilities. Additionally, presenters were
asked to consider specific issues of relevance in assessing the quality and
breadth of the available evidence. However, presenters were asked not to
conduct a systematic review of the evidence for a particular population
or topic, and they were advised not to propose physical activity
guidelines at the workshop.
____________________________________
The planning committee’s role was limited to planning the workshop, and the workshop summary
has been prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a factual summary of what occurred at the
workshop.
1
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2 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY WORKSHOP
THE WORKSHOP
The chair of the planning group, Dr. William L. Haskell, served as
the overall moderator for the workshop. He was assisted by seven col-
leagues who moderated the presentations and discussions for six plenary
sessions. After an overview of the purpose and structure of the work-
shop, expert panels addressed the amount and strength of the evidence
relating physical activity to health promotion and chronic disease preven-
tion, obesity and weight management, and risks of harm. Later in the
program, special consideration was given to children and youth, pregnant
and postpartum women, older adults, and persons with disabilities and
chronic health conditions. Periodically, scheduled discussants provided
supplementary information on each major topic. During each group dis-
cussion, members of the audience provided additional evidence, raised
questions, and suggested additional points for consideration by DHHS.
At the end of the workshop, moderators summarized the evidence related
to the major topics covered and identified a number of issues that would
need to be considered if DHHS decides to develop evidence-informed
physical activity guidelines for Americans.
This report is a summary of the workshop presentations and
discussions. Appendix A provides the workshop agenda, Appendix B
contains the biographical sketches of the presenters, and Appendix C
lists the workshop participants. For convenience, Appendix D identifies
acronyms and abbreviations, and Appendix E provides a glossary of
selected terms. The transcripts and slides used during presentations
served as the basis for the summary, but some of the content has been
rearranged for greater clarity. None of the statements made in this
workshop summary represents conclusions, recommendations, or group
consensus. Two terms used throughout the summary merit special
attention. Physical activity refers to body movement that is produced by
the contraction of skeletal muscle and that substantially increases energy
expenditure. Exercise often refers to planned, structured, and repetitive
body movement to improve or maintain one or more components of
physical fitness. In some cases, these two terms are used
interchangeably.
As indicated in Chapter 8, which covers the closing session, a sizable
body of literature was identified that documents a wide variety of
benefits of physical activity for all the population groups examined. For
each outcome, the strength of the evidence and the amount of evidence
varies depending on the topic. Overall, the body of evidence includes
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3
OVERVIEW
large and small randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses and
systematic reviews, prospective observational studies, consecutive case
series, case–control studies, genetic studies, and studies of biological
mechanisms. In addition, considerable evidence addresses the risks
associated with physical activity, ways to reduce the risks, and
considerations in weighing the risks against the benefits. Although the
final chapter summarizes information from the closing session on the
amount and strength of the available evidence, this information does not
represent conclusions or recommendations at this workshop.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
activity guidelines
