Introduction
Although muscle-strengthening exercise has multiple independent health benefits, little
is known about muscle-strengthening exercise participation and associations with adverse
health conditions among U.S. adults.
Methods
In 2017, data were analyzed from the U.S. 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
System. During telephone surveys, respondents reported how many times during the past
week they engaged in muscle-strengthening exercise. Weighted weekly muscle-strengthening
exercise frequencies were calculated for the total sample and across sociodemographic
and lifestyle characteristics. A multivariable logistic regression assessed the odds
of having self-reported adverse health conditions (e.g., diabetes, coronary heart
disease) according to weekly muscle-strengthening exercise frequency.
Results
Data were available on 397,423 adults (aged 18–80 years). Overall, 30.2% (95% CI=29.9,
30.5) met the muscle-strengthening exercise recommendations (two or more times/week)
and 57.8% (95% CI=57.5, 58.2) reported no muscle-strengthening exercise. Older age,
insufficient aerobic activity, lower income, lower education, poorer self-rated health,
being female, and being overweight/obese were significantly associated with lower
odds of meeting the muscle-strengthening exercise recommendations independently of
other characteristics. After adjusting for confounders (e.g., age, sex, income, smoking,
aerobic activity), when compared with those who did none, muscle-strengthening exercise
was associated with lower odds for several adverse health conditions, including prevalent
diabetes, cancer (non-skin), poor self-rated health, and obesity.
Conclusions
Three in five U.S. adults do not engage in any muscle-strengthening exercise, despite
an association for muscle-strengthening exercise with better health conditions. Future
muscle-strengthening exercise promotion strategies should target older adults, females,
those with low education/income, and those with a poor health status.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 24, 2018
Identification
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© 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
