December 6 — 7, 2007 Advisory Committee Meeting
Minutes
Review of Agenda and Overview of Subcommittee Process
The Chair of the Committee, William Haskell, Ph.D., thanked
Committee members and everyone who supported the work of the Committee. Dr.
Haskell noted his personal satisfaction dealing with key scientific issues in
the field. In reviewing the agenda, Dr. Haskell indicated much of the meeting
will be driven by the work of subcommittees that were formed at the June, 2007
Committee Meeting. Each subcommittee will provide an update on their work to
date.
At the June meeting, the Committee developed a plan to review the existing
literature through the subcommittee approach with support from liaisons from
CDC. Because the Committee report is primarily a public health document, the
initial focus of the Committee’s work has been on treatment as the main outcome.
As health has been interpreted in a broad context the Committee has been working
on determining the actual format of the report. Between now and the third
Committee Meeting in February we will address issues raised during this meeting
and begin drafting summary chapters and an executive summary. Thirty days after
the February meeting the Committee will submit a final report.
Several consultants were invited to help support the work of many of the
subcommittees. At the same time, CDC staff responded to subcommittee requests
for additional literature searches. While the majority of the subcommittees
were organized around health outcomes there are additional groups that address
special populations such as persons with disabilities and ethnic and
socio-economic subgroups.
As much of the existing literature on physical activity is centered on health
outcomes it made sense for the CDC to organize its database on health outcomes.
Committee members in turn were asked to prepare three to six key questions, the
answers to which will be the primary focus of the final report. Centrally, we
wanted to ask two primary questions:
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Is there evidence that physical activity is linked to a
specific outcome?
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If there is a link, what information is available in terms of
dose-response. The type, amount, intensity, frequency of activity that might
lead to benefit.
Committee members were also encouraged to ask questions that would provide
information that might not be directed at clinical outcomes, but would support
the clinical outcome data. These questions are primarily in the area of risk
factors or biomarkers. While the report is prevention oriented the Committee did
look into areas that were treatment or secondary prevention oriented. For
example, it was important to address the role of physical activity in people
that have Type 2 Diabetes.
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