ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Brazil has around twenty thousand gyms, more than any other country in the world, and they are used by almost 3.6 million Brazilians for the practice of physical activity. There is, therefore, a need to standardize the process of screening new users of these establishments, in order to reduce the risk of sudden death and other afflictions associated with physical exercise.
Objective:
To compare the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) with the pre-sports participation physical examination, to detect health risks in gym users.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted in gyms in São Bernardo do Campo and Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil. Fifty individuals of both sexes, aged between 18 and 35, who were starting physical activities, were evaluated. The patient's medical history was gathered, general and orthopedic physical examinations and the flexibility test were conducted, and the subjects were asked to fill out the PAR-Q questionnaire. Quantitative variables were analyzed using means, standard deviations and percentages. Comparison of continuous variables with normal distribution was performed using the t test, and comparison of qualitative variables was performed using the chi-square test or the exact Fisher test. The null hypothesis was set at 5% (p 0.05).
Results:
The PAR-Q was positive in 20% of the respondents, which was similar to the data from the patient's medical history, in which 28% reported some disease. The questionnaire had a positive association in individuals who used medication (p = 00.1), those with a family history of systemic arterial hypertension (p = 0.001) and those who had previously undergone surgery (p = 0.03).Subjects with a positive PAR-Q had higher figures for highest body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, the PAR-Q was not able to detect clinical diseases such as asthma (8%), dyslipidemia (4%), and hypothyroidism (2%), or smoking (8%) and previous surgery (40%). The abdominal and cardiopulmonary examinations showed changes in four participants who responded negatively to the PAR-Q.
Conclusion:
The PAR- Q was partially effective in identifying health risk among gym users.
Keywords:
sports medicine; death, sudden; physical fitness; medical examination
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