TABLE 2. Age-specific and age-adjusted* percentages of reporting walking, gardening, or weightlifting as a first or second most frequent activity^† among adults with arthritis^§ who reported engaging in physical activity in the past month,^¶ by selected characteristics — Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United States,** 2019.

Characteristic	No. of adults with arthritis engaging in physical activity	Age-adjusted % (95% CI)*
		Walking	Gardening	Weightlifting
Overall	87,299	70.0 (69.3–70.7)	10.7 (10.3–11.2)	10.3 (9.8–10.9)
Sociodemographic characteristic
Age group, yrs (unadjusted)
18–44	8,107	63.7 (61.8–65.5)	7.0 (6.1–8.0)	12.3 (11.1–13.6)
45–64	30,635	73.5 (72.6–74.5)	12.8 (12.0–13.7)	7.0 (6.5–7.6)
≥65	48,557	71.2 (70.3–72.0)	16.4 (15.7–17.1)	5.5 (5.1–6.0)
Sex
Male	34,886	63.9 (62.9–64.9)	10.9 (10.2–11.6)	10.9 (10.2−11.5)
Female	52,413	76.0 (75.2–76.7)	15.1 (14.5–15.8)	4.7 (4.3−5.1)
Race/Ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	72,415	70.0 (69.4–70.7)	14.4 (13.9–14.9)	7.3 (6.9−7.7)
Black, non-Hispanic	5,607	75.4 (73.3–77.4)	7.8 (6.7–9.1)	7.9 (6.6−9.4)
Hispanic	3,059	72.8 (69.7–75.7)	11.7 (8.9–15.2)	7.3 (5.8−9.2)
Asian, non-Hispanic	794	72.1 (65.2–78.0)	11.4 (7.4–17.1)	8.7 (5.7−13.1)
American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic	1,290	74.8 (68.6–80.2)	8.0 (5.4–11.8)	4.4 (3.1−6.3)
Other/Multiple race, non-Hispanic	2,495	68.3 (64.5–71.9)	14.3 (11.7–17.3)	6.0 (4.6−7.9)
Highest level of education
Less than high school graduate	4,963	76.7 (74.5–78.7)	10.5 (9.1–12.0)	3.2 (2.4−4.3)
High school graduate or equivalent	21,782	71.7 (70.4–72.8)	13.6 (12.6–14.6)	5.5 (4.9−6.2)
Technical school or some college	26,276	70.8 (69.6–71.9)	14.5 (13.7–15.4)	6.7 (6.1−7.4)
College degree or higher	34,120	68.1 (67.1–69.1)	12.7 (12.0–13.5)	11.2 (10.5−11.9)
Employment status
Employed or self-employed	30,192	67.7 (66.6–68.8)	13.0 (12.1–13.9)	9.2 (8.6−9.9)
Unemployed	2,822	74.8 (71.2–78.1)	11.6 (9.5–14.1)	5.8 (4.2−8.1)
Retired	41,668	71.0 (69.8–72.2)	14.2 (13.3–15.1)	6.7 (6.0−7.6)
Unable to work or disabled	8,058	79.0 (77.1–80.7)	11.1 (9.9–12.5)	2.1 (1.7−2.7)
Student or homemaker	4,206	73.5 (70.8–76.0)	14.6 (12.7–16.7)	7.1 (5.6−9.1)
Federal poverty level††
≤125% FPL	11,478	77.3 (75.7–78.8)	11.0 (10.0–12.2)	3.4 (2.8−4.1)
>125% to ≤200% FPL	12,531	72.8 (71.2–74.3)	13.4 (12.2–14.7)	5.5 (4.6−6.4)
>200% to ≤400% FPL	21,874	70.7 (69.4–71.9)	14.7 (13.8–15.7)	7.2 (6.5−7.9)
>400% FPL	26,569	66.7 (65.5–67.8)	13.3 (12.4–14.2)	11.2 (10.4−12.0)
Sexual orientation§§
Straight	48,499	70.6 (69.7–71.4)	13.9 (13.3–14.6)	7.0 (6.5−7.5)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or questioning	2,700	74.0 (70.9–76.9)	12.1 (9.9–14.8)	6.6 (4.9−8.8)
Urban-rural status ¶¶
Large central metro	11,279	72.4 (70.8–73.9)	11.8 (10.6–13.2)	8.5 (7.6–9.4)
Large fringe metro	15,941	67.9 (66.6–69.2)	12.9 (12.1–13.8)	8.2 (7.4–9.1)
Medium metro	18,392	70.3 (69.1–71.4)	13.4 (12.6–14.3)	7.0 (6.4–7.6)
Small metro	12,587	70.2 (68.7–71.7)	13.9 (12.8–15.1)	6.8 (6.0–7.7)
Micropolitan	14,468	69.6 (68.2–71.1)	14.5 (13.5–15.6)	5.6 (4.9–6.5)
Noncore	14,632	71.9 (70.3–73.5)	15.7 (14.4–17.0)	4.0 (3.3–4.7)
Health-related characteristic
Joint pain severity***
None/Mild	46,371	69.1 (68.2–70.0)	13.5 (12.8–14.2)	9.4 (8.8−10.0)
Moderate	20,280	71.6 (70.3–72.8)	13.5 (12.6–14.4)	6.5 (5.8−7.3)
Severe	19,421	73.6 (72.4–74.9)	12.7 (11.8–13.7)	4.3 (3.7−4.9)
Body mass index (kg/m2)
Underweight or healthy weight (<25)	22,816	68.5 (67.2–69.7)	13.5 (12.6–14.5)	7.9 (7.2−8.7)
Overweight (25 to <30)	30,115	69.1 (68.0–70.1)	13.7 (12.8–14.6)	8.9 (8.3−9.7)
Obese (≥30)	30,171	73.6 (72.6–74.5)	12.9 (12.1–13.6)	5.9 (5.3−6.4)
Mobility limitations†††
No	63,303	69.7 (68.9–70.4)	13.9 (13.3–14.5)	8.6 (8.1−9.0)
Yes	23,530	73.9 (72.8–75.1)	11.8 (10.9–12.7)	3.9 (3.3−4.4)
Arthritis-attributable activity limitations§§§
No	54,910	70.1 (69.3–70.9)	13.3 (12.7–13.9)	8.6 (8.1−9.1)
Yes	31,562	71.9 (70.9–72.9)	13.4 (12.6–14.1)	5.3 (4.9−5.8)
Arthritis-attributable work limitations¶¶¶
No	63,083	70.1 (69.3–70.8)	13.0 (12.5–13.6)	8.7 (8.3−9.3)
Yes	22,660	72.4 (71.3–73.6)	14.0 (13.1–15.0)	4.5 (4.0−5.0)
Self-rated health
Excellent or very good	35,055	67.5 (66.4–68.4)	13.2 (12.5–14.0)	10.5 (9.8−11.2)
Good	31,206	72.1 (71.1–73.1)	14.5 (13.6–15.4)	6.2 (5.7−6.8)
Fair or poor	20,858	74.1 (72.9–75.3)	11.8 (11.0–12.7)	4.2 (3.6−4.8)

Abbreviations: CI = confidence interval; FPL = federal poverty level.

* Except for age groups, age-adjusted estimates were generated in weighted logistic regression models that included age as a categorical covariate (18−44 years, 45−64 years, and ≥65 years).

^† Those who were engaging in physical activity were classified as participating in an activity if they reported this activity for one of two questions: 1) “What type of physical activity or exercise did you spend the most time doing during the past month?” or 2) “What other type of physical activity gave you the next most exercise during the past month?” Participants who reported one activity but had missing data for the second most frequent activity (e.g., “don’t know” or “refused”) were included in the analysis.

^§ Respondents were classified as having arthritis if they responded “yes” to the question, “Have you ever been told by a doctor or other health care professional that you have arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, or fibromyalgia?”

^¶ Respondents with arthritis were classified as engaging in physical activity if they responded “yes” to the question, “During the past month, other than your regular job, did you participate in any physical activities or exercises such as running, calisthenics, golf, gardening, or walking for exercise?”

** In 2019, New Jersey did not collect enough data to meet the minimum requirement for inclusion in the BRFSS public-use data set.

^†† FPL is the ratio of total family income to federal poverty level per family size. Overall, 14,847 adults with arthritis engaging in physical activity had missing FPL data.

^§§ Sexual orientation was asked in 30 states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin). A total of 788 adults with arthritis who engaged in physical activity refused to answer.

^¶¶ Urban-rural status was categorized using the National Center for Health Statistics 2013 Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_166.pdf

*** For the question, “On a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is no pain or aching and 10 is pain or aching as bad as it can be, during the past 30 days, how bad was your joint pain on average,” an answer of 0−4 was defined as none/mild, an answer of 5−6 was defined as moderate, and an answer of 7−10 was defined as severe.

^††† Respondents were classified as having mobility limitations if they responded “yes” to the question, “Do you have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs?”

^§§§ Respondents were classified as having arthritis-attributable activity limitations if they responded “yes” to the question, “Are you now limited in any way in any of your usual activities because of arthritis or joint symptoms?”

^¶¶¶ Respondents were classified as having arthritis-attributable work limitations if they responded “yes” to the question, “In this next question, we are referring to work for pay. Do arthritis or joint symptoms now affect whether you work, the type of work you do, or the amount of work you do?”