ABSTRACT
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Conference was held on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD, December 18 to 20, 1995. The major topics addressed at this Conference included the contributions of physical activity to health in the United States, current issues related to the type and intensity of physical activity to the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the effects of physical activity on risk factors for CVD, behavioral and sociocultural detriments of a physically inactive lifestyle, the cardiac risks of vigorous physical activity, recommendations for the promotion of physical activity by health care providers and communities, and the principal focus of this chapter, the contribution of physical activity to cardiac rehabilitation and the secondary prevention of CVD. The consensus development panel consisted of 11 academically based health professionals from disciplines other than exercise science, a practicing pediatric cardiologist, and a bank executive. It was chaired by Dr. Russell Luepker, Professor and Head of the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. The Consensus Statement ensuing from this conference was based on the panel’s deliberations following the presentations and public discussions and was published in 1996 (1). In addition, extended detailed summaries of the 28 conference presentations on which the Consensus Statement was based were published (2).
