Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the likelihood of meeting the physical activity guidelines in veterans who are obese by disability status.
Design: We used data from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a cross-sectional telephone survey. The mean response rate was 44.9%.
Setting: Respondents came from all 50 states, District of Columbia, and 3 US territories.
Patients: Respondents included veterans self-reporting being obese (N = 13 798).
Measures: We created a mutually exclusive disability variable: no disability, multiple disability, and limitations only with hearing, vision, cognitive, mobility, Activities of Daily Living, or Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. Physical activity guidelines were defined as 150 minutes/week of aerobic activity and 2 days/week of strength activities.
Analysis: Prevalence ratios (PRs) were calculated by performing separate log-binomial regression models for meeting strength and aerobic recommendations on veterans who were obese.
Results: Obese veterans with mobility limitations only or multiple disabilities were significantly less likely to meet the aerobic (PR = 0.74, P = .002 and PR = .62, P = .021, respectively) or strength (PR = .76, P < .001 and PR = 0.74, P < .001, respectively) recommendations, compared to not having a disability (n = 7964).
Conclusions: Inactivity could be explained by a lack of inclusive weight loss programs for veterans with disabilities and barriers to physical activity encountered by people with disabilities. Two primary limitations of this study are self-report of obesity and physical activity and exclusion of adults in institutional settings.
Keywords: disability; exercise; guidelines; physical activity; veterans.