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To the Editor: The Activity Counseling Trial Research Group¹ reported that among subjects randomized to receive advice about exercise, the proportion of patients "meeting physical activity goals" (defined as moderate or vigorous activity 5 or more days a week) between baseline and 24 months increased from 1.5% to 16.4% among men and from 0.8% to 14.3% among women, representing relative increases of 993% (men) and 1688% (women).We believe that the authors should have placed much greater emphasis on changes from study subjects' baseline condition. The authors' presentation makes the intervention appear fairly ineffective, particularly in men, while an examination of the change from baseline makes the results appear highly effective.

For instance, according to the physical activity objectives in Healthy People 2000,² Powell and Blair³ estimated the deaths from coronary heart disease, colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus that could be avoided by a change from 22% to 30% in the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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