December 6 — 7, 2007 Advisory Committee Meeting
Minutes
General Discussion
Thursday, December 6, 11:25 a.m.
The meeting proceeded with a general discussion period on the
previous presentations.
Non-Leisure versus Leisure Time Activity
During the All-Cause Mortality presentation Dr. Lee introduced the concept
of different domains of physical activity such as occupational, transportation,
leisure time with little mention of non-leisure time activities. Dr. Lee
indicated most of the earlier studies looked at leisure time activities;
however, later studies have looked at more non-leisure activities. While it is
important to review different modes of activity the bottom-line focus should be
on total volume of physical activity.
Observational Studies
Many of the studies sited during the previous presentations were
observational studies using self-report instruments and not objective
measurement systems. The fact that a majority of the studies that will be
available are observational self-report studies emphasizes the need to adhere to
the science in terms of guiding what will be used for making recommendations and
policy statements from self-report data. It will be essential that the issue of
reliance on self-report data and controlled studies be addressed in the
Committee's report.
Ethnicity
Dr. Yancey posed the question whether any of the studies sited previously
reported race ethnicity and did any do any subgroup analyses by race? Dr. Lee
indicated the majority of the studies in her area from Europe did not report
race while many U.S. population studies did report on race. Many of the studies
outside of the U.S. tended to be similarly in nature (i.e., Puerto Rico – mainly
Hispanic, Japan – mainly Asian). In terms of African Americans, there does not
seem to be any one study that specifically focused on that group. Many of the
other studies in the earlier presentations where similar in the way race was
dealt with. While there is not a lot of data along racial lines it would be
beneficial to report what can concluded on race in the special populations
section of the Committee report.
Measurement of Physical Activity
Much discussion centered on different means and methods for capturing and
measuring physical activity and the difficulties in comparing studies using
different methodologies and criteria. It will be appropriate for all Committee
members to discuss these complications; however it will also be outlined in
general in an introductory section of the Committee report.
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