Kunnskapsbasert folkehelse - eksempel fysisk aktivitet

Abstract

Evidence-based public health is a relatively new concept implying that decisions about interventions in the public health area be based on a) population needs and values, b) social and local contexts, c) available resources, and d) the best available scientific evidence. In this article physical activity is used to illustrate evidence-based public health in practice. Several large studies based on representative samples have demonstrated that the level of physical activity in the Norwegian population is low. International studies have shown that big changes in our physical environments, working lives, and transportation over the latest decades have reduced the level of physical activity substantially. In addition, the level of physical activity is skewed in the population. Persons with higher education are for example more active than persons with lower education. Public resources for physical activity in Norway are directed to organized sports, to initiatives for self-organized physical activity in sports and outdoor life, and to efforts to reach the physically inactive. Systematic reviews about effects of interventions to increase physical activity show that interventions targeting individuals give small to moderate increases of physical activity in the short term, that school based interventions increase the duration of physical activity in children and adolescents, and that simple, concrete interventions at the community level increase physical activity somewhat.