Resources
No.37
February 2003		  
    

Physical Inactivity: Finding Web Documents and Print Sources
By Gretchen Ghent, Publications Officer
International Association for Sport Information

Many current sport science articles and government reports have been published recently on the lack of sufficient and regular physical activity of the population as a whole or within certain age groups. Research studies show the causal relationship between physical inactivity and the increased risk of specific disease and mortality. Some articles and reports outline the current or future health and economic costs if physical inactivity trends continue. The search engine Google http://www.google.com/ reveals a number of key reports and the international databases, SPORTDiscus and PubMed provide references to essential periodical articles.
In the US an important report was published in 1996 entitled:

A recent benchmark study on a local population using the CSA accelerometer that measured actual activity levels can be found in PDF format at:

Other fulltext reports include:

The costs of physical inactivity has been calculated in these reports:

  • The Costs of Illness Attributable to Physical Inactivity in Australia: a Preliminary Study. A discussion paper prepared for the Commonwealth Dept of Health and Aged Care and the Australian Sports Commission, 2000. (In PDF format ) http://www.dhac.gov.au/pubhlth/publicat/document/phys_costofillness.pdf
  • The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change by Tomas J. Philipson and Richard A Posner. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, Nov. 1999. (NBER Working Paper No. W7423). ( Website: http://www.nber.org/ Click on Working papers and use the search engine to find this paper)

Searching SPORTDiscus
Using the free-text term physical inactivity (free-text searching uses natural language or unique keywords that can be found in any field of a database), over 120 records were found. Limiting the search to advanced level (ie research-based) sources revealed over 70 records (intermediate level records were over 30). The following records are good examples:

  • The Economic Burden of Physical Inactivity in Canada by Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Norman Gledhill and Roy J. Shepherd. Canadian Medical Association Journal, (2000) v163, No. 11, Nov. 28, p. 1435 - 1440. (Available fulltext at http://www.cmaj.ca/ )
  • Economic benefits of the health-enhancing effects of physical activity: first estimates for Switzerland, by B.W.; Martin et al. Schweizerische Zetischrift fuer Sportmedizin und Sporttraumatologie/Revue Suisse de medecine et de traumatologie du sport/Rivista svizzera di Medicina e traumatologia dello sport (Bern), 2001, v.49, no3, pp. 131-133.
Additional searches can be made in SPORTDiscus using the recognized descriptors: physical fitness and economics or any combination of descriptors including: exercise, compliance, health promotion.

Searching PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
Using the keywords physical inactivity quickly found:

  • Healthy lifestyles in Europe: prevention of obesity and type II diabetes by diet and physical activity, by A. Astrup. Public health nutrition (Oxon), 2001, Apr, no. 4 (2B); pp. 499-515.

Book Sources
A wide range of book materials are available also including:

  • Bouchard, Claude (2000), Physical activity and obesity. Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
  • McElroy, Mary. (2002), Resistance to exercise: a social analysis of inactivity. Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
  • Samitz, G & Mensink, G.B.M. (2002) Körperliche Aktivitat in Prävention und Therapie: evidenzbasierter Leitfaden für Klinik und Praxis. München: Hans Marseille Verlag.


Author Contact Information
Gretchen Ghent, Librarian Emeritus
(VP for North America & Publications Officer for the International Association for Sport Information & Chair, North American Sport Library Network)
C/o The University of Calgary Law Library
2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
Tel: 403-220-6907 FAX: 403-282-6837 Email: gghent@ucalgary.ca
NASLIN website: http://www.sportquest.com/naslin/
Scholarly Sport Sites: http://www.ucalgary.ca/library/ssportsite/
IASI Website: http://www.iasi.org/



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Gretchen Ghent, Canada