The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #62348

Willi Horner-Johnson, PhD¹, Charles E. Drum, JD, PhD¹, and Gloria L. Krahn, PhD, MPH². (1) Oregon Office on Disability and Health, Oregon Health & Science University, PO Box 574, Portland, OR 97207-0574, 503-494-9273, hornerjo@ohsu.edu, (2) Oregon Institute on Disability & Development, Oregon Health & Science University, PO Box 574, Child Development and Rehabilitation Center, Portland, OR 97207-0574

The health benefits of physical activity have been well documented (USDHHS, 1996; USDHHS, 2000). As noted in Healthy People 2010, for the more than 56 million people with disabilities, physical activity is important in maintaining health and preventing secondary conditions (AHA, 2002; Hassmen et al, 2000; USDHHS, 2000). The BRFSS Health Behaviors and Outcomes project focuses on assessing positive health among people with disabilities and identifying factors, such as physical activity, that are related to positive health status. The project utilizes data from the 1998 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System aggregated across 15 states. The total sample size is 46,993. Of these, roughly 18% were identified as people with disabilities. Preliminary analyses have shown that physical activity is even more strongly associated with positive health among people with disabilities than among people without disabilities. While people without disabilities are likely to describe their health more positively than people with disabilities, the health status gap is smaller among exercisers than among non-exercisers. However, people with disabilities are less likely to be physically active. More than 40% of the respondents with disabilities indicated that they were participating in no physical activity or exercise of any kind. Implications of these findings for health promotion interventions will be discussed, as well as the need for increasing access to opportunities for physical activity. The need for future research to illuminate causal relationships between physical activity and health status (and vice versa) will also be addressed.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will have an increased awareness of the relationship between physical activity and health status for people with disabilities.
• Participants will be able to articulate the importance of utilizing the BRFSS to track participation in physical activity for people with disabilities.
• Participants will understand the distinction between data showing associations among variables and data indicating a causal relationship.

Keywords: Physical Activity, Disability

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.