IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0316051.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Temporal trends in aerobic physical activity guideline adherence among nationally representative samples of U.S adults between 2011 and 2019: Cross-sectional findings from a sample of over 2 million adults

Author

Listed:
  • David Abernethy
  • Jason Bennie
  • Toby Pavey

Abstract

Background: Physical inactivity is a significant public health concern associated with numerous adverse health outcomes and substantial economic costs. This study describes the prevalence, trends and correlates for adherence to moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guidelines among a large sample of U.S. adults. Methods: Data from the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys were analyzed. Self-reported MVPA was assessed by the same item across each survey. Population-weighted prevalence was calculated for meeting MVPA guidelines (150+ mins/wk). Adjusted prevalence ratios for reporting sufficient MVPA across sociodemographic, behavioral and health variables were calculated by multivariate Poisson regression. Results: Data was available for 2,052,288 respondents (≥ 18 years). Across the surveys, the prevalence of sufficient MVPA fluctuated but remained between 49.5% and 51.1%. Among those aged 18 to 24, the prevalence of sufficient MVPA declined between surveys, from 56.5% in 2011 to 49.7% in 2019. Notable correlates of adhering to guidelines included male sex, higher education, former and never smokers, normal body mass index and increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Conclusion: From 2011 to 2019, approximately half of US adults reported sufficient MVPA, with a steady decline observed among young adults. While many identified correlates of adhering to PA guidelines were observed, this study has provided further evidence for correlates that had previously provided inconsistent or inconclusive results. These findings emphasize the complexity of addressing physical inactivity and the importance of multifaceted public health strategies tailored to diverse populations.

Suggested Citation

  • David Abernethy & Jason Bennie & Toby Pavey, 2025. "Temporal trends in aerobic physical activity guideline adherence among nationally representative samples of U.S adults between 2011 and 2019: Cross-sectional findings from a sample of over 2 million a," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0316051
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0316051
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0316051&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0316051?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron Johnston & Kelvyn Jones & David Manley, 2018. "Confounding and collinearity in regression analysis: a cautionary tale and an alternative procedure, illustrated by studies of British voting behaviour," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1957-1976, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hren, Darko & Pina, David G. & Norman, Christopher R. & Marušić, Ana, 2022. "What makes or breaks competitive research proposals? A mixed-methods analysis of research grant evaluation reports," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    2. Tim Heubeck & Annina Ahrens, 2025. "Governing the Responsible Investment of Slack Resources in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance: How Beneficial are CSR Committees?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 198(2), pages 365-385, May.
    3. Han-Sol Lee & Sergey U. Chernikov & Szabolcs Nagy & Ekaterina A. Degtereva, 2022. "The Impact of National Culture on Innovation: A Comparative Analysis between Developed and Developing Nations during the Pre- and Post-Crisis Period 2007–2021," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Tuyen Quang Tran & Huong Van Vu, 2021. "The impact of land fragmentation on food security in the North Central Coast, Vietnam," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 327-345, May.
    5. Joachim P. Hasebrook & Leonie Michalak & Anna Wessels & Sabine Koenig & Stefan Spierling & Stefan Kirmsse, 2022. "Green Behavior: Factors Influencing Behavioral Intention and Actual Environmental Behavior of Employees in the Financial Service Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-35, August.
    6. Flávia dos Santos Barbosa Brito & Emanuela Santos da Costa & Ariane Cristina Thoaldo Romeiro & Debora Martins dos Santos & Alexandre dos Santos Brito & Alessandra Silva Dias de Oliveira & Amanda Rodri, 2024. "Exploring Maternal Socio-Demographic Factors Shaping Children’s Dietary Patterns in Brazil: Results from the 2019 National Health Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(8), pages 1-12, July.
    7. Adam R. Pearson & Guadalupe A. Bacio & Sarah Naiman & Rainer Romero-Canyas & Jonathon P. Schuldt, 2021. "Cultural determinants of climate change opinion: familism predicts climate beliefs and policy support among US Latinos," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-8, July.
    8. Stephen Morse & Nora McNamara & Nancy Nathan & Shuaibu Adamu & Oluwayemisi Idowu Micah & Muhammed Kabir & Augustine Sunday Onwuaroh & Nathaniel Otene, 2023. "The Leveraging of Support by Faith-Based Social Groups in Rural Villages of the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Dorceta E. Taylor & Ashley Bell & Destiny Treloar & Ashia Ajani & Marco Alvarez & Tevin Hamilton & Jayson Velazquez & Pwintphyu Nandar & Lily Fillwalk & Kerry J. Ard, 2024. "Defying the Food Desert, Food Swamp, and Supermarket Redlining Stereotypes in Detroit: Comparing the Distribution of Food Outlets in 2013 and 2023," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-59, August.
    10. Arcuri, Maria Cristina & Gandolfi, Gino & Russo, Ivan, 2023. "Does fake news impact stock returns? Evidence from US and EU stock markets," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 125.
    11. Heinrich, Victor, 2023. "Private Equity Transactions: Value Creation through Operational Engineering – Evidence from Europe," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(3), pages 634-657.
    12. James Ming Chen & Predrag Bejaković & Nika Šimurina, 2024. "Tax and Policy Drivers of Personal Overindebtedness in the European Union," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 30(2), pages 115-133, May.
    13. Biswajit Banerjee & Peter Tóth, 2025. "Life Satisfaction and Inequality in Slovakia: The Role of Income, Consumption and Wealth," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 93-126, March.
    14. Mária Sováriová Soósová & Vladimíra Timková & Lucia Dimunová & Boris Mauer, 2021. "Spirituality as a Mediator Between Depressive Symptoms and Subjective Well-being in Older Adults," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 30(5), pages 707-717, June.
    15. Elisabet Garrido & Claudio Giachetti & Juan P. Maicas, 2023. "Navigating windows of opportunity: The role of international experience," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 1911-1938, August.
    16. Daniel A. Griffith & Richard E. Plant, 2022. "Statistical Analysis in the Presence of Spatial Autocorrelation: Selected Sampling Strategy Effects," Stats, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Seigner, Benedikt David Christian & Milanov, Hana & Lundmark, Erik & Shepherd, Dean A., 2023. "Tweeting like Elon? Provocative language, new-venture status, and audience engagement on social media," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    18. Pilar Malagón-Selma & Ana Debón & Josep Domenech, 2023. "Measuring the popularity of football players with Google Trends," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(8), pages 1-21, August.
    19. Yutaka Fujioka & Norio Kambayashi, 2022. "Learning by teaching technological knowledge: conceptual skill development in Japanese overseas subsidiaries," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(9), pages 1-32, September.
    20. Dèwanou Kant David Ahoya & Eveline Marie Fulbert Windinmi Sawadogo-Compaore & Jacob Afouda Yabi & Martine Zandjanakou-Tachin & Jerome Anani Houngue & Serge Sètondji Houedjissin & Justin Simon Pita & C, 2024. "Factors Influencing Adoption of the PlantVillage Nuru Application for Cassava Mosaic Disease Diagnosis Among Farmers in Benin," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0316051. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.