LIFELONG PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN MIDLIFE AND OLDER WOMEN

The need for measures of physical activity in women led to this descriptive study of 375 women aged 33–62 (mean age 47±7 years). A questionnaire was developed to assess levels of lifelong physical activity (LLPAQ) with three subscales: occupation, leisure, and household. Reliability as determined by Cronbach's alpha ranged from. 83–.87, while test-retest correlations ranged from. 46–.57 for the subscales and total score. Correlations of the LLPAQ with cardiorespiratory fitness were positive, with a shift from highest correlation between fitness and leisure physical activity ( r = .26–.29, p < .05) in younger women, to highest correlation between fitness and occupation physical activity ( r = .29–.38, p < .05) in women over 50. Patterns of physical activity over the lifespan were different for each subscale; total scores showed a peak in overall physical activity between ages 25–39, and a steep decline after age 39, due to small decreases on each subscale. Relevance of a measure including household physical activity to document lifelong levels of physical activity for health studies of women is discussed.