Physical Activity Advice from Primary Care Physicians

Physical inactivity is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. To assess whether physicians in typical primary care practices can actually increase their patients’ physical activity, investigators for the Experimental Program for Physical Activity Promotion randomized 56 primary care physicians in Spain to provide either an intervention, in which all eligible patients were given standardized physical activity advice and information, or standard care. Patients’ mean age was 49, 67% were women, 42% were overweight, and 26% were obese. The mean baseline duration of moderate and vigorous activity in the 2248 intervention recipients was 34.4 minutes (2.37 MET-hours) per week, versus 33.2 minutes (2.36 MET-hours) per week in the 2069…