Physical activity, obesity and mortality: does pattern of physical activity have stronger epidemiological associations?

Table 1 Patterns of physical activity, sport, active travel and weight over time (confined to matched samples)

Measure		1983	1988	1994	Patterns of activity or weight change
Measure		Time 1	Time 2	Time 3	Patterns of activity or weight change
PA in leisure time^a		%	%	%	%
Level 1	None	23.7	22.8	20.8
Level 2	Moderate <4 h	53.7	57.9	56.9
Level 3	Mod or strenuous >4 h	22.6	19.3	22.3
PA pattern^a	Inactive/low maintainers				11.6
	Mixed pattern				69.4
	Active maintainers				19.0
Sport participation^b	% reporting nil	68.3	67.8
Sport participation^b	% reporting any	31.7	32.2
Sport participation pattern^b	No sport at time1 & time2				55.1
	Mixed sport reported once				25.9
	Sport both times				19.0
Active travel Walk/bike^c	<20 mins/d	21.7	15.8
	20–39 min/d	26.7	25.2
	40+ mins/d	51.6	59.1
Active travel pattern^c	<20mins both times				7.5
	Mixed pattern				55.2
	>40 mins both times				37.3
BMI (μ, sd)^a		24.4 (3.7)	25.1 (3.9)	25.9 (4.1)
BMI change time 1 to time 3 μ (sd)^a					1.5 (2.2)
Percent BMI change time 1 to time 3 μ (sd)^a					6.3% (9.0)
Mean waist circumference female/male in cm^a (sd)		–	78.4/91.4 (12.1)	81.1/93.7 (12.4)	2.8/2.3 (6.1)^d
Hip circumference female/male in cm (sd)^a		–	98.1/98.5 (7.3)	99.3/99.3 (8.0)	1.3/0.80 (3.9)^d

^aMatched data based on n = 2509 with a value for PA time 3 (2388 (95.2%) had data at all three time points)
^bMatched data based on n = 2966 with a value for sport time 1 and time 2
^cMatched data based on n = 2960 with a value for walk/bike time 1 and time 2
^dChange from time 2 to time 3 as not collected at time 1

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