Supervised and free-living physical activity: no differences in former athletes and nonathletes.

The association of past participation in school sports with present physical activity was studied in 265 Caucasian men who represented a broad spectrum of cardiovascular health. In cross-sectional and prospective analyses of free-living and supervised settings, no differences in contemporary adult activity were observed between former athletes and nonathletes (p greater than .05). Statistical control for selection bias effects by age, body mass index, sum of skin folds, exercise tolerance, and coronary health status did not alter the results. Recall of free-living physical activity was verified by significant (p less than .05) correlations with a concurrent self-report of activity and with body mass index and exercise tolerance adjusted for coronary health status. Previous reports of an association between school sports participation and adult activity have failed to control for subject selection bias and confounding variables, verify activity recall, and examine both supervised and free-living environments. Although these data do not support the role of youthful sports participation in adult physical activity, future studies could provide objective measures of school and community sports participation and subjective measures of the sports experience in relation to other sex, race, and ethnic factors.