Participation in sports and exercise has been shown to help prevent the development of substance use and abuse among adolescents. The protective mechanisms may involve mood, self-efficacy or simply the incompatibility between peak athletic performance and acute intoxication. In addition, prior research has found that aerobic exercise is useful for reducing tension and stress during recovery from substance use disorders (Read & Brown, 2003). However, fitness and exercise levels among substance-dependent individuals have not yet been examined. As such, we chose to characterize baseline exercise and fitness levels for individuals entering outpatient substance abuse treatment as a prelude to examining activity, weight and other health changes during outpatient treatment. The NASA/Johnson Space Center Physical Activity Rating (PA-R) scale was developed to provide an estimate of a participant’s fitness level using a self-reported regular physical activity, along with height, weight, age and gender (George et al ., 1997). The PA-R was administered to 109 consecutively screened treatment-seeking individuals with cocaine, alcohol, or combined cocaine and alcohol (CAD) dependence. Additional data on height and weight, gender and race were gathered. Overall, fitness levels were below average for all subjects, and mean BMI was 29.24, with 43 (39.45%) subjects classified as obese, 44 (40.37%) as overweight and only 22 (20.18%) as normal weight. PA-R findings indicate that fitness levels for participants were average or below. Taken together, findings indicate that there is substantial room for improving fitness and exercise among treatment-seeking substance-dependent subjects.
Although prior research indicates that aerobic exercise is useful for reducing tension and stress during recovery from substance use disorders [
As an initial investigation of baseline fitness levels among individuals entering substance abuse treatment, we sought to characterize baseline fitness levels among treatment seekers. In the future, this baseline data can be compared with treatment outcomes to see if baseline fitness impacts recovery.
To examine baseline fitness levels among substance-dependent individuals, the NASA/JSC Physical Activity Rating Scale (PA-R) [
The NASA/Johnson Space Center Physical Activity Rating (PA-R) scale was developed to provide an assessment score of 0 - 7 on a person’s level of regular physical activity [
The PA-R values for this single response, along with the participants’ age, gender, height and weight were used to calculate predicted VO2 max for participants. VO2 max is a measure of aerobic capacity, which is the maximum capacity of an individual’s body to transport and utilize oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual.
The formula for predicting VO2 max using the PA-R is:
Predicted VO2 Max = {[(0.133 × age) − (0.005 (age × age)] + (11.403 × gender) + (1.463 × PA-R) + (9.17 × height in meters) − (0.254 × weight in kg) + 34.142)}.
Analyses were conducted using SPSS v. 22.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp).
Data were collected from 109 participants. The mean age of participants was 44.79 (SD = 9.92). Just over half of participants (57%) were African American, while the remainder (43%) were Caucasian. The majority of participants (70%) were alcohol dependent, while 24% were dependent on both cocaine and alcohol, and the remaining 6% on cocaine alone.
The majority of participants were either overweight or obese, with only 20% within normal BMI range. The percentage of participants above normal weight was comparable across racial groups, although a larger per- centage of African Americans were overweight (44.1%) versus obese (35.6%), while the reverse was true for Caucasians, with more participants obese (44.7%) than overweight (36.2%). Women were more likely to be normal weight than men (29.4% vs. 17.5%), but were also more likely to be obese (47.1% vs. 38.5%) (
Overall, these subjects show overall poor fitness levels. Most are overweight or obese according to BMI data. In
| BMIs by race | ||
|---|---|---|
| African American (n = 62) | Caucasian (n = 47) | |
| Normal weight | 20.3 | 19.1 |
| Overweight | 44.1 | 36.2 |
| Obese | 35.6 | 44.7 |
| BMIs by gender | ||
| Male (n = 92) | Female (n = 17) | |
| Normal weight | 17.5 | 29.4 |
| Overweight | 44 | 23.5 |
| Obese | 38.5 | 47.1 |
| Age | Women | Men | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VO2 max | Fitness level | VO2 max | Fitness level | |
| 20 - 24 | 37.43 | Average | 45.27 | Average |
| 25 - 29 | 31.88 | Fair | 41.04 | Fair |
| 30 - 34 | ----- | ----- | 38.63 | Fair |
| 35 - 39 | 29.79 | Fair | 42.51 | Average |
| 40 - 44 | ----- | ----- | 37.23 | Average |
| 45 - 49 | 30.03 | Average | 37.07 | Average |
| 50 - 54 | 31.02 | Good | 35.30 | Average |
| 55 - 59 | ----- | ----- | 33.69 | Average |
| 60 - 65 | 25.61 | Good | 25.50 | Fair |
| Overall | 27.70 | ----- | 37.15 | ----- |
addition, most report little exercise on the PA-R. VO2 max calculations show that subjects are of average fitness or below. Only older women showed above average fitness levels. All age groups of men showed average or fair fitness levels, as did all age groups of women except for those aged 50 - 54 and 60 - 65.
These findings indicate that there is substantial room for improving fitness and exercise among treatment-seek- ing substance-dependent subjects. Improving fitness as part of treatment may help to address weight issues across substance classes. It has been well-documented that alcohol and weight have a complicated relationship, with most studies finding a J-shaped curve documenting that moderate alcohol consumption correlates to lower body weights than does either abstinence or heavier drinking [
Future studies could incorporate exercise to determine what impact it has on treatment outcome [
Jennifer G. Plebani, (2015) Treatment-Seeking Alcohol and Cocaine Dependent Individuals with High BMIs and below Average Fitness Levels. Open Access Library Journal,02,1-4. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1101588