Assessment of physical activity with a single global question in a large, multiethnic sample of midlife women

This study compared responses from 13,621 African-American, Chinese, Hispan ic, Japanese, and White women to a single, global physical activity questio n. Respondents aged 40-55 years were randomly selected from seven geographi c locations in the United States for the 1996-1997 cross-sectional survey o f the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a longitudinal, observatio nal study of the menopause transition. Respondents rated their activity lev el as much less, less, the same as, more, or much more than other women the ir age. Physical activity rating varied minimally by race/ethnicity. The pr oportions of women who rated themselves much less active and much more acti ve ranged from 3.1% for Whites to 4.8% for Japanese and from 13.6% for Japa nese to 16.4% for African Americans, respectively. Multiple logistic regres sion models, stratified by race/ethnicity, showed independent associations between a low level of activity and higher body mass index, poor health, fu nctional impairment, perceived stress, difficulty sleeping, and not being e mployed. A high level of activity was associated with excellent health, sin gle marital status, higher education, lower body mass index, and older age. These findings suggest that a comparative rating of physical activity may rank women by activity level within a specific racial/ethnic group but may not capture differences across racial/ethnic groups.