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Objectives: This article is the second in a series of four that present data about physical activity in the 15 member states of the European Union collected by the Eurobarometer 58.2. The focus of this article is on days of vigorous and moderate physical activity, days of walking, and metabolic equivalence estimates (METs) for total physical activity from 15 member states of the European Union using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)., Methods: Data were collected in 2002 as part of the Eurobarometer by face-to-face interviews. A total of 16,230 respondents age 15 years and older were interviewed. Sample sizes ranged about 1000 respondents in most nations. Physical activity was assessed with the last 7-days short version of the IPAQ., Results: Median METs estimates in hours per week were the highest in The Netherlands (39.43 MET-hours/week), Germany (34.65 MET-hours/week in the eastern part, 33.90 MET-hours/week in the western part), and Luxembourg (31.55 MET-hours/week). The lowest METs estimates were reported in Northern Ireland (11.55 MET-hours/week), Sweden (18.65 MET-hours/week) and France (19.55 MET-hours/week)., Conclusion: A comparison of the results with existing data on physical activity prevalence in the member states indicate some inconsistencies between studies which may be related to measurement problems, as well as to conceptual differences in the assessment of physical activity.

Objectives: This article is the last in a series of four that present data about physical activity in 15 member states of the European Union collected by the Eurobarometer 58.2. The focus of this article is on the perception of environmental opportunities for physical activity across the European Union., Methods: Data were collected in 2002 as part of the Eurobarometer by face-to-face interviews. A total of 16,230 respondents age 15 years and older were interviewed. Sample sizes ranged about 1,000 respondents in most nations. Physical activity was assessed with the last 7-days short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)., Results: Results indicate relationships between the perceptions of environmental opportunities; gross household income and physical activity level (in MET-hours/per week) of respondents. Respondents who reported lower income and less physical activity had also more negative perceptions of environmental opportunities. Across nations, respondents in Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Western Germany had the highest satisfaction with environmental opportunities for physical activity. In some nations, positive correlations between the perception of environmental opportunities and physical activity levels could be observed., Conclusion: Results show variations in the perception of environmental opportunities across the EU. Overall, the majority of respondents rated their environmental opportunities for physical activity favourable.

Objectives: This article is the first in a series of four that present data about physical activity in the 15 member states of the European Union collected by the Eurobarometer 58.2. On a descriptive and multivariate level, the analysis investigates the relationship between physical activity and self-rated health in the different nations., Methods: Data were collected in 2002 as part of the Eurobarometer by face-to-face interviews. A total of 16,230 respondents age 15 years and older were interviewed. Sample sizes ranged about 1000 respondents in most nations. Physical activity status (insufficiently active, sufficiently active, and highly active) was assessed using the last 7-days short-version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)., Results: On a descriptive level of analysis, results indicated positive relationships between physical activity status and self-rated health across populations subgroups as divided by age, gender, income, and educational attainment. Also on a multivariate level of analysis, physical activity status was significantly related to a better self-rated health. In an analysis on the national level, some variations in the predictive power of physical activity status for self-rated health could be observed., Conclusion: Results provide some indication for a positive relationship between physical activity, as assessed with the IPAQ, and self-rated health. That in most nations sufficient levels of physical activity were not positively related to self-rated health might be explained by difficulties in assessing moderate forms of physical activity, and also differences of the context (at home, for leisure, at work, for transportation) where physical activity takes place.

Objectives: This article is the 3rd in a series of four that present data about physical activity in 15 member states of the European Union collected by the Eurobarometer 58.2. On a descriptive level it investigates the relationships between physical activity (MET-h/week) and mental health., Methods: Data were collected in 2002 as part of the Eurobarometer by face-to-face interviews. A total of 16,230 respondents age 15 years and older were interviewed. Sample sizes were about 1,000 respondents in most nations. Mental health was assessed with the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) and the Energy and Vitality Scale (EVI-scale). Physical activity was assessed with the last 7-days short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)., Results: Across sociodemographic subgroups of the populations investigated (age, gender, marital status, gross household income, educational status) it was found, that those being more physically active had in general a better mental health. In some of the 15 nations evidence for a dose-response relationship between physical activity and mental health was found, while in others this was not the case., Conclusion: Results seem to indicate a positive relationship between physical activity level and mental health for population subgroups. However, analysis found no evidence that this relationship can be characterized as being dose-response in all nations.

Objectives: The following contribution analyses the socio-structural context of sport as well as the relationship between sport/physical activity and health among older people (> or = 60 years)., Methods: The data are part of a telephone-survey by random sample with 436 realised cases in the independent cities of the Western Ruhr-District and thus represent a situation in highly urbanised areas., Results: In the cardinal question concerning the meaning of sport and physical activity for health a positive relationship was found, in particular between sport intensity and health measured by Advanced Activities of Daily Living (AADL) as well as for sport as hobby, which showed a highly significant relationship with subjective health. With regard to socio-demographic variables results show that sport and physical activity vary with gender and age. Apart from that attitudes like low external control for one's health as well as the value of appearance show strong relationships with sport participation. Stratification variables with the exception of income only show weak effects., Conclusions: The results, which are partly not congruent, indicate that further research is needed in the field of sport and health among the aged.