|
Please use the links below to view details of publications produced by the BHFNC and external organisations
BHF publications
Coronary Heart Disease Statistics
Physical Activity and Your Heart
Primary Care Physical Activity Toolkit
Physical Activity and Health Toolbox
Physical Activity Advice Handouts
Physical Activity and Health Playing its Part in Delivering Choosing Health
External organisations publications:
NICE Obesity Guidance
The WHO Global Database on Body Mass Index
BMJ Online Resource
for Public Health
Guidance on Physical Activity Interventions
NICE Physical Activity Implementation Advice
The Care Pathway for the Management of Overweight and Obesity
Measuring Childhood Obesity: Guidance for PCTs
Lightening the Load: Tackling Overweight and Obesity
'Stay Fit and Active'
Easing the Pressure: Tackling Hypertension
Your Health, Your Care, Your Say
Health Trainers: A Review
of the Evidence
THe NHS and Local Transport Planning: A Briefing
Tackling Child Obesity: First Steps
Briefing Paper on Obesity, Diet and Exercise
Diet and Obesity in the UK
Preventing Childhood Obesity
Up and Running?
Football and Health
Australian Physical Activity Recommendations for Cardiovascular Disease
Physical Activity and Cancer Risk
Physical Activity Counselling in the Adult Primary Care Setting - Position Stand
Coronary Heart Disease Statistics, British Heart Foundation (G30)
The British Heart Foundation publish statistics on the incidence and prevalence of Coronary Heart Disease on an annual basis. The statistics
for 2006 highlight that:
- Heart disease and circulatory disease are the UK’s biggest killer;
- In the UK, someone has a heart attack every two minutes and almost 2.6 million people have heart and circulatory disease;
- Being physically active lowers the risk of CHD;
- Rates of physical activity in the UK are low: around 70% of adults do less than the recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity five times a week.
To download the BHF’s coronary heart disease statistics for 2006 please click here:
www.bhf.org.uk/professionals/uploaded/BHF_FINAL_UK_FACTSHEET_02052006.pdf
To order a factsheet, please call 0870 600 6566 and quote G30 as the reference number.
Physical Activity and Your Heart, British Heart Foundation (HIS1)
This is one of a range of booklets in the BHF's Heart Information Series which explains different conditions affecting the heart and circulation
and is intended for patients, their family and friends to help them understand their illness and be better prepared to control their condition.
The booklet explains why physical activity is important for an individuals heart, even if individuals already have CHD; how physical activity
affects the heart and suggests the type, frequency and level of physical activity individuals should aim to do.
To order a hard copy visit
www.bhf.org.uk/publications/description.asp?secondlevel=423&artID=1025 or call 0870 600 6566 and quote reference number HIS1.
To download the document in pdf. format, click on
www.bhf.org.uk/publications/uploaded/no_1.pdf
To browse and access other Heart Information Series publications, visit
www.bhf.org.uk/publications/index_home.asp?SecID=18
Primary Care Physical Activity Toolkit, British Heart Foundation (M59)
The BHF Primary Care Physical Activity Toolkit was launched in 2001. This training pack is designed to be used to inform, promote and trigger action on the promotion of physical activity in primary care settings. Designed to help practices make physical activity promotion an integral part of practice consultation,
the Physical Activity Toolkit contains the research evidence and recommendations for physical activity, as well as case studies and ideas
for promoting physical activity. Included are all the materials required for a one hour workshop. The toolkit has been designed so that any
member of a Primary Care Group can run the workshop, for example GPs, Practice Nurses, Dieticians, Health Promotion Specialists
or specially designated Primary Care Facilitators.
The BHFNC is planning to re-write the toolkit to incorporate the latest research on physical activity in primary care and to include
information on young people. We are seeking professionals views on how to do this, please go to the evaluation section.
The OHP sheets included in the toolkit are also available in Microsoft Powerpoint format. To access the Powerpoint slides, click here There is a suggested donation to the BHF of £25 per toolkit.
To order the toolkit, visit
www.bhf.org.uk/publications/description.asp?secondlevel=419&artID=2476 or call 0870 600 6566 and quote reference number M59.
Physical Activity and Health Toolbox
The BHF National Centre for Physical Activity and Health has developed a Physical Activity and Health Toolbox. The toolbox has been designed to support professionals in making the case for physical activity and health. It includes a series of evidence-based
user friendly fact sheets and accompanying slides on key issues in sport, physical activity and health which can be adapted for use with different audiences.
The fact sheets and accompanying slides can be downloaded from the website and information can be used in whatever format professionals
deem appropriate, key facts and figures can be extracted from the different documents and inserted into reports, presentations, letters, briefing documents, etc.
Any information extracted from these documents needs to be fully referenced and needs acknowledgement that the information
has been taken from the BHF National Centre’s Physical Activity and Health Toolbox.
If you have any queries about any of the information in the toolbox, please do not hesitate to contact Kim Buxton
Email: K.E.Buxton@lboro.ac.uk Tel: 01509 223267.
Toolbox File Name |
Download |
Physical activity advice handouts, British Heart Foundation National Centre & Sport Ex Health
The BHFNC have worked in collaboration with Sport Ex Health to produce a series of physical activity advice handouts on several leading medical conditions. The handouts are designed to be given to patients by health professionals to provide
an information on the benefits of physical activity and offer an individualised approach to encouraging physical activity.
There are five handouts in the current BHF series:
Physical activity and high blood pressure
Physical activity for weight loss
Physical activity and diabetes
Physical activity and angina
Physical activity after a heart attack
Click on each of the handouts to order.
Physical activity and sport playing its part in delivering Choosing Health
A resource for Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) has been produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCSM), the Walking the Way to Health Initiative (WHI), the BHF National Centre for Physical Activity and Health (BHFNC) and Sport England. The purpose of the resource is to help the health sector improve the planning, strategic placement, partnerships, resource commitments and performance management of physical activity. It is hoped that commissioners and service providers such as SHAs and PCTs or Practice Based Commissioners (PBC) will use the resource as an aid to supporting partnerships, setting local targets and monitoring of physical activity levels. It should also be of interest to local authorities who are working with partners to deliver physical activity particularly through Local Area Agreements, including County Sport
Partnerships and Community Sport Networks who are working as part of the Delivery System for Sport to increase participation. The resource has been developed through wide consultation with the 28 SHAs, PCTs, Teaching Primary Care Trusts and other key commissioners and service delivery colleagues and stakeholders, as well as through evidence gathering and assimilation.
To access the resource, click
on
www.emphasisnetwork.org.uk/emphasison/activity/downloads/Physical_Activity_Resourcefinal.pdf
Resources and publications produced
by external agencies
NICE - Obesity: the prevention, identification assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published its first ever national guideline to address both the prevention and treatment of obesity in adults and children. The recommendations have been written with a large audience in mind not just the NHS; including public health professionals and those responsible in the local government, schools, workplace, partnership organisations and the voluntary sector. Some of the recommendations outlined are:
-
Local authorities and local partners such as industry and voluntary organisations should work together to create safe spaces for physical activity, addressing concerns about safety and crime as a priority.
-
Schools should ensure that their environment and policies help children and young people maintain healthy weight, healthy eating and physical activity.
-
The first line of treatment for obesity should be exercise and dietary changes along with behavioural change. If these methods are unsuccessful drug treatments could be prescribed.
-
Healthcare professionals should provide people with advice on maintaining a healthy weight that includes:
-
Making physical activity part of everyday life
-
Eating five portions of fruit and vegetables everyday
-
Refrain from eating foods high in fat and sugar
-
For adults who are morbidly obese bariatric surgery is recommended as a final resort providing strict criteria are fulfilled and all non-surgical measures have been tried but failed to maintain weight loss for at least 6 months.
-
In exceptional circumstances bariatric surgery may be considered for young people who have gone through puberty and fulfil the criteria set in the guidelines.
The full guidance can be downloaded by sections at:: http://www.nice.org.uk/CG043fullguideline
The WHO Global Database on Body Mass Index has been developed for facilitating international comparisons of adulthood obesity rates, monitoring the magnitude of the current and future obesity problems, and evaluating the effectiveness of intervention strategies. The Database provides both national and sub-national adult underweight, overweight and obesity prevalence rates by country, year of survey and gender. The information is presented interactively as maps, tables, graphs and downloadable documents, and will be added to as the resource develops.
For more information, and to access the database visit www.who.int/bmi/index.jsp
The British Medical Journal, supported by the Faculty of Public Health has developed an online resource for public health professionals. The website draws together key targets, policies and guidelines for public health, and indexes them by topic. Over 15 public health topics have been selected from national and international priorities. Topics include obesity, cardiovascular disease and mental health, but not physical activity. Data from public health observatories around the country has been included, allowing professionals to search for data in their own area and compare this with the rest of the UK. Examples of best practice are also available. The website is currently in its prototype form with the aim being to launch the full site with more than 15 public health topics by January 2007.
To access the resources, visit www.bmjpublichealth.com/bmj
Guidance on physical activity interventions, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence has published the first public health guidance on physical activity.
The guidance considers the effectiveness of four commonly used methods to encourage individuals to become more active:
- Brief interventions in primary care;
- Exercise referral schemes;
- Pedometers;
- Community-based exercise programmes for walking and cycling.
The guidance has been written for professionals in the NHS, local authorities and the community and voluntary sector. It presents
recommendations on the four methods:
Recommendation 1:
Primary care practitioners should take the opportunity, whenever possible, to identify inactive adults and advise them to aim for 30 minutes of moderate activity on 5 days of the week (or more). They should use their judgement to determine when this would be inappropriate (for example, because of medical conditions or personal circumstances). They should use a validated tool, such as the Department of Health’s
forthcoming general practitioner physical activity questionnaire (GPPAQ), to identify inactive individuals.
Recommendation 2:
When providing physical activity advice, primary care practitioners should take into account the individual’s needs, preferences and
circumstances. They should agree goals with them. They should also provide written information about the benefits of activity and
the local opportunities to be active. They should follow them up at appropriate intervals over a 3 to 6 month period.
Recommendation 3:
Local policy makers, commissioners and managers, together with primary care practitioners, should monitor the effectiveness of local
strategies and systems to promote physical activity. They should focus, in particular, on whether or not opportunistic advice is helping to increase the physical activity levels of people from disadvantaged groups, including those with disabilities (and thereby tackling health inequalities). They should also assess how effective professionals from a range of disciplines are at raising long-term physical activity levels among these groups.
Recommendation 4:
Local policy makers, commissioners and managers, together with primary care practitioners, should pay particular attention to the needs
of hard to reach and disadvantaged communities, including minority ethnic groups, when developing service infrastructures to promote
physical activity.
Recommendation 5:
Practitioners, policy makers and commissioners should only endorse exercise referral schemes to promote physical activity that are
part of a properly designed and controlled research study to determine effectiveness. Measures should include intermediate outcomes
such as knowledge, attitudes and skills, as well as measures of physical activity levels. Individuals should only be referred to schemes
that are part of such a study.
Recommendation 6:
Practitioners, policy makers and commissioners should only endorse pedometers and walking and cycling schemes to promote physical
activity that are part of a properly designed and controlled research study to determine effectiveness. Measures should include
intermediate outcomes such as knowledge, attitude and skills, as well as measures of physical activity levels.
To access either the full guidance or the quick reference guide please click on the following links:
Physical activity guidance www.nice.org.uk/download.aspx?o=299528
Quick reference guide www.nice.org.uk/download.aspx?o=299534
The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have developed and published implementation advice and additional
tools to help organisations implement the NICE public health intervention guidance on physical activity which was published in March
2006. The document aims to provide practical advice to help NHS organisations to work in partnership with other organisations, such as local authorities, to implement the NICE guidance on physical activity. It will help those responsible for implementing the guidance to
develop an action plan and it has been designed to be used alongside other tools that have also been developed, such as a costing tool and audit criteria. The implementation advice is aimed at people who are responsible for implementing the physical activity guidance
in their organisation, particularly within primary care trusts. Additionally, the advice aims to help support local commissioning groups,
such as practice-based commissioning groups.
To access the implementation advice please visit: www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=320519
To access the costing template please visit:
www.nice.org.uk/download.aspx?o=phi002costtemplate
To access the audit criteria please visit: www.nice.org.uk/download.aspx?o=320669
Public Health Minister Caroline Flint has announced the publication of new practical tools for GPs and other health professionals to
help patients lose weight and improve their health. The Care Pathway for the Management of Overweight and Obesity is part of the
Your Weight, Your Health series. It provides primary care practitioners with information on how they can tackle the subject of obesity
and being overweight with patients. The series also includes a self-help booklet for patients, offering information on how to lose weight
through better diet and exercise. The comprehensive package comprises materials for health professionals as well as information to be given
to patients. It includes Obesity Care Pathways for adults and children and a supporting booklet with detailed information for health
professionals. In addition, there are tools to help GPs raise the rather sensitive issue of weight opportunistically with both adults and children.
For more information, and to access the resources, visit
www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance
Measuring Childhood Obesity: Guidance for Primary Care Trusts
The Department of Health (DH) has produced this guidance for primary care trusts (PCTs) on how to measure the height and weight of
children aged between 4 and 11 years, as part of the Government’s public service agreement (PSA) target to 'halt the year on year rise in
obesity among children aged under 11 by 2010'. The measures outlined in this guidance are for the purpose of population monitoring.
Local data on childhood obesity are needed in order to inform local planning, targeting of local resources and interventions, and to enable
tracking of local progress against the PSA target on obesity, and local performance management. Schools will inform parents that the PCT
will be measuring their child’s height and weight in school. The parents should be informed that they are entitled to opt their child out of
the measuring process. The guidance has been informed by research into children’s attitudes to being weighed and measured, which was
undertaken on behalf of the Children’s Commissioner.
To access the guidance, click on www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/12/64/06/04126406.pdf
Obesity Toolkit, National Heart Forum & Faculty of Public Health
The National Heart Forum and the Faculty of Public Health have produced a free Obesity Toolkit to help health professionals
implement change within local settings. The aim for the Toolkit is to guide front-line primary care staff such as GPs, pharmacists,
community and school nurses in helping people to achieve and maintain weight loss by sustainable lifestyle changes, such as helping
individuals to eat a sensible diet, give up smoking and take exercise. The Obesity Toolkit gives health professionals practical advice
about how to develop and manage strategies for lifestyle change in local communities.
For more information, visit www.heartforum.org.uk/Publications_NHFreports_1744.aspx
Asthma UK have produced a resource, Stay Fit and Active. It offers advice to people with asthma on how to safely tackle sports
and physical activities and offers advice on how to exercise and keep symptoms under control.
For further information please visit www.asthma.org.uk/news/news221.php
Easing the pressure: tackling hypertension, National Heart Forum and Faculty of Public Health
The National Heart Forum and the Faculty of Public Health have launched a new hypertension toolkit, Easing the pressure: tackling hypertension.
The toolkit aims to provide support for developing a local strategy to tackle hypertension. It is intended to help local multi-agency teams
including public health, health promotion and primary care professionals, and strategic planners in both NHS and local government.
It will help them to develop and implement strategies and action plans, not only to identify and treat patients with hypertension, but
also to promote healthy lifestyles and environments to prevent hypertension in the first place.
For further information please visit
www.fph.org.uk/policy_communication/publications/toolkits/hypertension/default.asp
Your Health, Your Care, Your Say, DoH
This report presents the results of the 'Your Health, Your Care, Your Say' White Paper listening exercise. It is based on the views
of at least 42,8661 people in England. The consultation asked the public, patients, service users, and staff for their views on how
to improve the services provided in the community by the NHS and social care, and was one of the largest research-based listening
exercises ever to take place in England. The results will inform the development of the White Paper on Care Outside Hospitals.
The findings are built around 3 main topics: spontaneous concerns and priorities; the improvements people want to see in
community health and social care services; and delivering a more personalised service. The White Paper aims to achieve 4 main
goals:
- to provide better prevention services with earlier intervention;
- to do more to tackle health inequalities and improving access to community services;
- to give people more choice and a larger voice;
- to provide more support for people with long-term needs.
To access the report, click on www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/12/74/62/04127462.pdf
Health Trainers: A review of the evidence
A review of the evidence for health trainers, as proposed in the Choosing Health white paper, 2004, has been produced by the
Primary Care Development Centre at Northumbria University. Health trainers will be based within communities and will offer
personalised, tailored advice, motivation and practical support to individuals who want to adopt healthier lifestyles. There will be
health trainers in the 88 spearhead Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) from April 2006 and throughout the country from 2007. This report
looks at different models of training local people for the role, successful intervention strategies in health promotion, existing examples
of good practice within healthy living programmes in the UK and the evaluation of health promotion interventions. It makes a number
of recommendations regarding the recruitment, training, roles & responsibilities and evaluation of the health trainer scheme.
For more information, visit www.pcdc.org.uk
To access the Choosing Health white paper, click on
www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance
The NHS and Local Transport Planning: A briefing, NICE
In July 2005 Local Authorities submitted their 2006–2011 provisional Local Transport Plans (LTPs) to central government. The
plans provide a significant opportunity for the NHS to develop its role in supporting better transport to improve public health,
reduce health inequalities and improve access to NHS services over the next five years. The National Institute of Health and
Clinical Excellence (NICE) have now published a briefing on the NHS and Local Transport Planning.
The briefing:
- Describes the requirements of LTPs and key national/ local transport targets;
- Highlights the links to NHS and public health priorities;
- Provides signposts to the available evidence and guidance regarding the types of transport schemes and initiatives that are effective in tackling these priorities.
The guidance is aimed at public health practitioners, Primary Care Trust (PCT) commissioners, NHS trust and local
authority managers, and policy managers with a responsibility for transport, physical activity, accident reduction and access to services.
For further information please visit: www.publichealth.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=317670
Tackling Child Obesity – First Steps
The National Audit Office, the Healthcare Commission and the Audit Commission have produced a document entitled Tackling Obesity – First Steps, which claims that without clearer leadership from Government Departments, there is a risk that the
Government’s Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to halt the rise in obesity in children under 11 by 2010 will not be met.
The target is jointly owned by Department of Health, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and Department for Education
and Skills. This report investigates the strength and efficiency of the part of the delivery chain that aims to reduce obesity in
children between the ages of 5 and 10. The report is the third in a series which examines the effectiveness of the mechanisms
to deliver Government (PSA) targets. The child obesity PSA target was set in July 2004, but the key ingredients of the delivery plan will not be published until May 2006. Tackling Childhood Obesity–First Steps warns that a lack of timely guidance has meant
that the various organisations that will need to work together to deliver the target have been unclear about their roles. The report
claims that without greater clarity, organisations further down the delivery chain may be wasting resources on ineffective or
inappropriate interventions that fail to target those children most at risk. Obesity now costs the NHS around £1 billion a year
and the UK economy a further £2.3 billion of indirect costs. If this trend continues, the annual cost to the economy could be £3.6
billion a year by 2010.
Tackling Childhood Obesity–First Steps recommends:
- greater clarity and direction from central Government: it is essential that the three Departments work closely together to provide strong leadership;
- better definition of regional roles and responsibilities: Government Offices for the Regions could play a greater role in bringing together the various elements of the delivery chain;
- the strengthening local partnerships: local structures and mechanisms, such as local strategic partnerships and children’s trusts, exist to promote joint working and have the potential to reduce the risk of duplication of activities by
bringing together funding around agreed priorities
- more support should be available for front line staff: better information and training on roles and responsibilities and improved dissemination of advice and guidance.
To access the Executive Summary, visit
www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/0506801es.pdf
To access the full document, click on
www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/0506801.pdf
Briefing Paper on obesity, diet and exercise, Centre for Longitudinal Studies
The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is responsible for three of Britain’s birth cohort studies: 1958 National Child Development
Study (NCDS), 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). The studies involve multiple surveys
of large numbers of individuals from birth and throughout their lives. Over the years they have collected detailed information
on education and employment, family and parenting, physical and mental health, and social attitudes. The Centre has published
a briefing paper examining obesity and the dietary and exercise habits of members of each cohort.
Key findings include:
Diet and Obesity in the UK, ESRC
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have developed a fact sheet, Diet and obesity in the UK. The fact sheet is designed
to provide an overview of diet and obesity in the UK. The fact sheet looks at why people become obese, it considers children and obesity, and discusses what constitutes a balanced diet and losing weight, eating disorders and the benefits of staying in shape.
To access the fact sheet please visit:
www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/facts/index55.aspx
Preventing Childhood Obesity, British Medical Association
This report is a guide for general practitioners and other healthcare professionals on issues relating to childhood obesity. The report highlights
the main aspects of childhood nutrition and exercise, draws attention to the role of the clinician, and provides links to sources of further information. It also makes recommendations for tackling the obesity epidemic in the UK. The report identifies that one million children in Britain are now obese. Furthermore the report predicts that if current trends continue, one in five boys and one in three girls will be obese by 2020.
For further information please visit www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/ChildhoodObesity
To download the document please click on the following link:
www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/childhoodobesity/$file/PreventingObesityfinal.pdf
Up and running?, Mental Health Foundation
The Mental Health Foundation has produced a report about the use of exercise in treating mild or moderate depression, and the positive effects
that exercise can have on a person’s mental health. There is now substantial evidence to show that physical activity is an effective treatment for
people with mild or moderate depression. This report outlines the benefits of using exercise as therapy, the obstacles to its more widespread use
and how these obstacles might be overcome. The aim of Up and running? is to promote exercise therapy for mild or moderate depression as a realistic and readily available tool for GP’s, and a genuine alternative that patients can understand and choose for themselves.
For further information please visit www.mentalhealth.org.uk/page.cfm?pagecode=PBNP
To access the document please click on the following link
www.mentalhealth.org.uk/html/content/up_and_running.pdf
Football and Health, Department of Health
At a conference in 2005, ‘The power of football’, a guide for football clubs and primary care trusts was launched called Football and health.
It is a manifesto that uses football to promote partnerships between local health and football organisations to help to promote public health
and activity. With more than seven million adults and five million children playing football each year and 26 million fans passing through the turnstiles to see professional football matches each week, the footballing authorities, the NHS and Government are determined to harness this
mass appeal to help reinforce and promote healthy living. The guide details examples of good practice where health professionals and football
clubs are already working together and achieving success in a variety of ways to improve the health of the public. It also provides advice to
help football organisations and PCTs to establish local initiatives that improve the understanding of healthy choices and increase access to
health services. Many young players dream of being a professional footballer but even if they drop out of football as a teen or adult without
reaching the top, if they learn important health messages along the way through playing football then the health of the nation stands to
benefit hugely.
To access the document please visit:
www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance
Australian physical activity recommendations for cardiovascular disease
The first ever evidence-based physical activity recommendations for the ongoing care of people with cardiovascular disease
(CVD) have been published by the National Heart Foundation of Australia as a Position Statement in The Medical Journal of Australia. The primary aim of the Heart Foundation’s new Physical Activity Recommendations for People with Cardiovascular
Disease (PAR4CVD) is to help GPs provide safe and appropriate physical activity advice to people with stable coronary heart
disease, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and fully recovered stroke. The resource is intended to be of value for
health professionals involved in the care of patients with CVD. The PAR4CVD document outlines dose-specific physical
activity recommendations for people with these conditions as well as highlighting people who should not be active for safety
reasons, and the warning signs for when people with cardiovascular disease should stop any physical activity.
To access the document, visit
www.heartfoundation.com.au/downloads/PAR4CVD_FullRecs_06_Jan_final.pdf
Physical activity and Cancer Risk, American Institute for Cancer Research
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) has produced a document summarising the latest research evidence on the links between physical activity and cancer. There are over 180 observational epidemiologic studies that have examined the relationship between physical activity and cancer prevention at specific sites, such as colon and breast cancer. The report
outlines the evidence of the beneficial effect of physical activity in reducing the risk of developing cancer. It classifies the effect
as ‘convincing’, ‘probable’ or ‘possible’ for reducing the risk of different types of the disease. The psychological and physiological
effects of physical activity during and after treatment in patients and survivors are also outlined, and explanations of the biological
mechanisms for the association between physical activity and cancer are proposed. The recommended level of physical activity in reducing the risk of cancer and other diseases is also discussed, along with suggested implications for public health and health promotion policy messages.
To access the report, visit www.aicr.org/activity
This position statement addresses the role of the primary care provider in counselling healthy adult patients on the benefits of regular physical
activity for the purpose of primary prevention. The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) recognises that a significant amount
of research and data analysis has been completed regarding this issue, and this position is intended to lend guidance and clarity to practitioners
as well as the public. Evidence supporting the health benefits of regular physical activity for people of all ages, both male and female, is presented. The American College of Preventive Medicine believes that despite the varying research results to date, certain patterns have emerged that
allow for the development of recommendations related to physical activity counselling in the primary care setting with an emphasis on
counselling healthy adults for the purpose of primary disease prevention. In addition, health promotion research has shown that the number
of individuals reached through primary care interventions is greater than other health promotion venues, demonstrating the feasibility of
providing counselling in primary care at a relatively low cost.
The Position Statement can be accessed at www.acpm.org/2004-042(F).pdf |
