Physical Activity Surveillance in the United States for Work and Commuting: Understanding the Impact on Population Health and Well-being.

Abstract

To summarize and describe the current US surveillance systems that assess physical activity (PA) for work and commuting. An expert group conducted an environmental scan, generating a list (n = 18) which was ultimately reduced to 12, based on the inclusion of PA and/or sedentary behavior data. The 12 surveys or surveillance systems summarized provide nationally representative data on occupational-level PA or individual-level PA at work, data on active commuting, some are scorecards that summarize workplace health best practices and allow benchmarking, and one is a comprehensive nationally representative survey of employers assessing programs and practices in different worksites. The various surveillance systems and surveys/scorecards are disparate and need to be better analyzed and summarized to understand the impact of occupational-level PA and commuting on population health and well-being, life expectancy, and workforce productivity.