Background: Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released an updated global guideline on physical activity and sedentary behavior, including recommendations for sub-populations living with chronic conditions or disabilities. We aimed to examine the prevalence of meeting the WHO recommendations among these sub-populations in the USA.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the 2017 to 2018 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
Results: We revealed variations in physical activity levels among individuals with chronic conditions and disability. US adults with diabetes, hypertension or disability had a lower prevalence of recommended physical activity levels than the general population. In addition, certain demographic groups such as being female, older and having lower socioeconomic status were associated with a lower likelihood of meeting the WHO recommendations on physical activity.
Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of promoting physical activity levels among US adults, especially those with older age, low socioeconomic status, hypertension and disability.
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.