TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - Epidemiology of cycling for exercise, recreation or sport in Australia and its contribution to health-enhancing physical activity
JO  - Journal of science and medicine in sport
A1  - Titze, Sylvia
A1  - Merom, Dafna
A1  - Rissel, Chris E.
A1  - Bauman, Adrian E.
SP  - 485
EP  - 490
VL  - 17
IS  - 5
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To provide population estimates and explore trends for recreational cycling by subgroups, and to understand the contribution of recreational cycling to meeting the physical activity guidelines among Australian adults. DESIGN: Repeated cross sectional population surveys.     METHODS: Data from the Exercise, Recreational and Sport Survey (ERASS) for the years 2001-2009 were used. Approximately 13,000 Australian adults (≥15 years) were interviewed each year across all seasons. Data include frequency of cycling during the previous 12 months and average duration of a cycling session, asked since 2005. Three thresholds for meeting the physical activity guidelines were considered using the separate categories: achieving >150min, >300min, and 5 sessions of 30min cycling per week.     RESULTS: The pooled prevalence of recreational cycling was 10%. Employed middle-aged men with tertiary education reported the highest prevalence of recreational cycling. An increase in cycling was observed over time, mainly attributed to an increase in "irregular" cycling (<1/week). Among all cyclists a third met the physical activity guidelines of 150min/week, and less than 20% met the guidelines of 300min/week or 5 sessions of 30min/week, respectively. Although a small group, almost two thirds of those participating in organised or partly organised recreational cycling met the guidelines.     CONCLUSIONS: Recreational cycling is a plausible way to accumulate sufficient health-enhancing physical activity. The majority of recreational cyclists do not cycle in organised rides. Targeted efforts are needed to exploit the full potential of recreational cycling for public health.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1440-2440
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2013.09.008
ID  - ref1
ER  -