Progress in cardiovascular diseases
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Prog Cardiovasc Dis · Jan 2015
Inadequate physical activity and health care expenditures in the United States.
This study estimates the percentage of health care expenditures in the non-institutionalized United States (U. S.) adult population associated with levels of physical activity inadequate to meet current guidelines. Leisure-time physical activity data from the National Health Interview Survey (2004-2010) were merged with health care expenditure data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2006-2011). ⋯ When adults with any reported difficulty walking due to a health problem were excluded, 8.7% (95% CI: 5.2, 12.3) of aggregate health care expenditures were associated with inadequate physical activity. Increasing adults' physical activity to meet guidelines may reduce U. S. health care expenditures.