Brief reportFamily History of Chronic Disease and Meeting Public Health Guidelines for Physical Activity: The Cooper Center Longitudinal Study
Section snippets
Study Population
We examined data from adult patients (21-75 years) who visited the Cooper Clinic (Dallas, Texas) for a preventive medicine visit between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2010, enrolled in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study (CCLS), and provided written informed consent. The CCLS is an ongoing cohort study aimed at determining the effects of physical activity and other lifestyle behaviors on morbidity and mortality.8 The CCLS is approved annually by The Cooper Institute’s Institutional Review
Results
Most of the participants were men (21,340 of the 29,513 study patients [72.3%]). The mean (SD) age of the participants was 46.6 (9.5) years, and many were overweight or obese (17,525 [59.3%]) (Table 1). They consumed a mean (SD) of 6.6 (7.0) alcoholic beverages per week, relatively few currently smoked (3725 [12.6%]), two-thirds (19,704 [66.8%]) met or exceeded physical activity guidelines, and 14,813 (50.2%) did not have an FHD. In bivariate analysis, individuals with an FHD were less likely
Discussion
Few studies to date have explored the relationship between FHD and meeting physical activity guidelines, which, if met, have the potential to decrease disease risk. In our large cohort of adult patients, those with an FHD were less likely to be sufficiently physically active than those without an FHD. These results are alarming because an FHD is a predisposition for future development of chronic disease, and habitual physical activity should play an important role in mitigating disease
Conclusion
Our study results indicate that among this large sample of adults, having a family history of cancer, diabetes, and CHD is significantly and independently associated with reduced odds of meeting guidelines for health-promoting physical activity. Clinicians and public health practitioners should be aware that individuals with an FHD might be less inclined to regularly engage in physical activity to mitigate their predisposition for disease. Although additional studies are needed to substantiate
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr Kenneth H. Cooper for establishing the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study and the Cooper Clinic physicians and technicians for collecting the baseline data. Additionally, we thank Melba Morrow for editorial assistance.
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For editorial comment, see page 533.