[Physical activity status of working time and its change over a ten-year period in Beijing and Guangzhou populations].

OBJECTIVE: To describe the current status of physical activity of working time and its changes in the past ten years in certain Chinese populations.
METHODS: 3304 participants were randomly selected in clusters (villages, residential households, or working organizations) from 4 approximately equally sized sub-samples, an urban and a rural district in Beijing and an urban and a rural district in Guangzhou. Physical activities of working time and its changes in the past ten years were collected by a standard questionnaire. The energy expenditures per kilogram body weight (unit: kJ/kg) in one normal working day for each individual were calculated.
RESULTS: The physical activity levels were relatively low and the rates of very mild and mild physical activities were 59.4% in these four Chinese populations. Intensities of physical activities at working time were greater in men than those in women, and in southern than those in northern, and in rural than those in urban in China. As a whole, 48.8%, 38.0% and 13.2% of our study participants reported that physical activities of their working time could decrease, could unchange, and could increase respectively over the ten years period before the survey. The rates of decreases were greater in rural than those of urban, and greater in men than those of women, increased with age, and decreased with educational levels.
CONCLUSION: Low physical activity at working time and its declining trends in these Chinese populations should require public health investments, including strategic planning and public education.