The revised Physical Activity Guidelines published by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2018 were issued as a result of the work done by an Advisory Committee which was charged to review the scientific literature on physical activity and health. In February 2018, the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report was published. This report further established the health benefits of physical activity due to the research into the relationship between physical activity and health which has occurred over the last 10 years, following the publication of the original Physical Activity Guidelines by HHS in 2008.
The report presented significant findings regarding the health benefits of physical activity across the full age spectrum, for various levels of cardio-respiratory fitness and for numerous disease diagnoses.
The report also provided an opinion, based on its research, regarding the role of primary care physicians in the evaluation of a patient’s “physical activity” and more standardized intervention by the physician regarding physical activity recommendations and/or prescriptions during the patient office visit.
The following recommendations were offered for intervention by the primary care physician upon their review of a patient’s physical activity during their office visit:
“The primary care setting may be an appealing venue for offering physical activity counseling or referral.”
“the primary care setting represents a scalable opportunity to influence population-level physical activity if effective approaches can be implemented”
“Intervention efficacy (for influencing patient physical activity) may be enhanced by providing more standardized interventions (e.g., delivered in a similar manner across providers and health care systems)”
“More robust strategies (e.g., strategies beyond brief advice….)……can be supplemented with written ‘prescriptions’ involving specific physical activity recommendations.”
A copy of a highlighted summary of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report is available here:
PAG Advisory Committee Scientific Report Summary
A copy of the complete 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report is available here: