Health Benefits of Different Sports: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal and Intervention Studies Including 2.6 Million Adult Participants.

Background: Several reviews have examined the health benefits of participation in specific sports, such as baseball, cricket, cross-country skiing, cycling, downhill skiing, football, golf, judo, rugby, running and swimming. However, new primary studies on the topic have recently been published, and the respective meta-analytic evidence needs to be updated.

Objectives: To systematically review, summarise and appraise evidence on physical health benefits of participation in different recreational sports.

Is running associated with a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality, and is the more the better? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To investigate the association of running participation and the dose of running with the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: Journal articles, conference papers and doctoral theses indexed in Academic Search Ultimate, CINAHL, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, MasterFILE Complete, Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, Open Access Theses and Dissertations, PsycINFO, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, SPORTDiscus and Web of Science.

Effects of frequency, intensity, duration and volume of walking interventions on CVD risk factors: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of randomised controlled trials among inactive healthy adults.

Objective: Walking interventions in healthy populations show clinically relevant improvements for many cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. We aimed to assess the changes in CVD risk factors and the dose-response relationship between frequency, intensity, duration and volume of walking and cardiovascular risk factors based on randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Design: A systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression.

Replacing sedentary time with physical activity: a 15-year follow-up of mortality in a national cohort.

Background: Sedentary behavior is associated with health risks in adults. The potential benefits of reducing sedentary time may be dependent not only on decrease per se, but also on the type of activity it replaces. Few longitudinal studies have investigated the effects on mortality when replacing objectively assessed sedentary time with another physical activity (PA) behavior.

Accelerometer-measured sedentary time and physical activity-A 15 year follow-up of mortality in a Swedish population-based cohort.

Objectives: To investigate the associations of objectively assessed sedentary time, light intensity physical activity (PA), moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA), and total PA with all-cause mortality and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer in a Swedish population-based cohort with 15 years follow-up time.

Design: Longitudinal prospective cohort study.

Methods: Data from 851 persons (56% women) ≥35 years at baseline were included.

Associations of specific types of sports and exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular-disease mortality: a cohort study of 80 306 British adults.

Background/aim: Evidence for the long-term health effects of specific sport disciplines is scarce. Therefore, we examined the associations of six different types of sport/exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk in a large pooled Scottish and English population-based cohort.

Methods: Cox proportional hazards regression was used to investigate the associations between each exposure and all-cause and CVD mortality with adjustment for potential confounders in 80 306 individuals (54% women; mean±SD age: 52±14 years).

Health benefits of different sport disciplines for adults: systematic review of observational and intervention studies with meta-analysis.

The aim was to assess the quality and strength of evidence for the health benefits of specific sport disciplines. Electronic search yielded 2194 records and the selection resulted in 69 eligible studies (47 cross-sectional, 9 cohort, 13 intervention studies). 105 comparisons between participation and non-participation groups in 26 different sport disciplines were reported.

A 6 year longitudinal study of accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time in Swedish adults.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate changes over six years in physical activity and sedentary behavior assessed with accelerometry in a representative sample of Swedish adults.

Design: A longitudinal study over six years.

Methods: The cohort consisted of 1172 participants (46% males) in 2002 and 511 participants (46% males) in 2008, of which 478 (45% males) had valid data on both occasions.

Route choices of transport bicyclists: a comparison of actually used and shortest routes.

Background: Despite evidence that environmental features are related to physical activity, the association between the built environment and bicycling for transportation remains a poorly investigated subject. The aim of the study was to improve our understanding of the environmental determinants of bicycling as a means of transportation in urban European settings by comparing the spatial differences between the routes actually used by bicyclists and the shortest possible routes.

Methods: In the present study we examined differences in the currently used and the shortest possible bicycling routes, with respect to distance, type of street, and environmental characteristics, in the city of Graz, Austria.

Domain-specific physical activity and health-related quality of life in university students.

Information on the relationship between domain-specific physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the general population and specific groups is still scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between PA in work, transport, domestic and leisure-time domains and HRQoL among university students. PA and HRQoL were assessed in a random stratified sample of 1750 university students using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - long form and 12-item Short Form Health Survey, respectively.

Economic impact of reduced mortality due to increased cycling.

Increasing regular physical activity is a key public health goal. One strategy is to change the physical environment to encourage walking and cycling, requiring partnerships with the transport and urban planning sectors. Economic evaluation is an important factor in the decision to fund any new transport scheme, but techniques for assessing the economic value of the health benefits of cycling and walking have tended to be less sophisticated than the approaches used for assessing other benefits.

Wife carrying for health.

Objectives: To highlight a fun activity--the sport of wife carrying--and to investigate factors associated with better performance.

Design, Setting And Participants: Cross-sectional study based in Sonkajärvi, Finland (venue of the annual Wife Carrying World Championship race), of 172 couples participating in wife-carrying races, 1992-2010.

Main Outcome Measure: Race finishing time.

Use of global positioning systems to study physical activity and the environment: a systematic review.

Context: The GPS represents an innovative way to objectively assess the spatial locations of physical activity behavior. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the capability of GPS to collect high-quality data on the location of activities in research on the relationship between physical activity and the environment.

Evidence Acquisition: Published and unpublished articles identified from seven electronic databases, reference lists, bibliographies, and websites up to March 2010 were systematically searched for, appraised, and analyzed in summer 2010.

Estimates of the number of people in England who attain or exceed vigorous intensity exercise by walking at 3 mph.

Walking is a safe, accessible and low cost activity, amenable to change and known to have great potential to increase physical activity levels in sedentary individuals. The objective of this study is to estimate the proportion of the 2009 adult population of England who would attain or exceed vigorous intensity activity (>70% maximum heart rate [HR(max)]) by walking at 3 mph. We conducted predictive impact modelling using participants' (n = 1741, aged 25-64 years) cardiovascular fitness data from treadmill walking tests.

Physical activity recommendations for public health: development and policy context.

Physical activity recommendations summarise the evidence on how much and what kind of physical activity enhance health and suggest target activity levels for different population groups. According to the recommendations by the U.S.

The bikeability and walkability evaluation table reliability and application.

Background: With increased research on the influence of the built environment on physical activity, methods of assessing environmental attributes have to be developed according to different research requirements.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the approach to develop and test a simple and efficient audit tool to get a quick overview of environmental characteristics along a route or in a neighborhood.

Methods: Based on a selection of existing audit instruments, the Bikeability and Walkability Evaluation Table (BiWET) was developed in 2007 at the University of Graz, Austria.

Comparison of a subjective and an objective measure of physical activity in a population sample.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare physical activity components in the long, self-administrated version of IPAQ with an accelerometer in a population sample.

Methods: In total 980 subjects (18-65 years) wore an accelerometer (Actigraph) for 7 consecutive days and thereafter filled in the IPAQ. Measures of total physical activity, time spent in moderate and in vigorous activity as well as time spent sitting as assessed by the IPAQ and the Actigraph were compared.