According to statistics from the US National Institute on Aging, more than half of people over-65 are classed as physically inactive, and less than 40% meet the government's modest guidelines for exercise.
They claim the modest guidelines will cause job loss in an already troubled economy, appealing to the conservative base that scoffs at any government regulation, and crying "nanny-state," when the government attempts to intervene in our health crisis.
But over 60% of men and 70% of women in the UK say they don't even follow the modest NHS guidelines.
The rather high baseline levels of awareness and use of guidelines (in both groups), also likely contributors to the modest effects on guideline use, could be explained by how the survey questions were phrased and the availability of other guidelines.
There are several possible explanations for the modest effect on guideline use.
Another limitation, possibly contributing to the modest effect on guideline use, could be that the education component of the implementation intervention comprised only one session.
The short duration between implementation and follow-up evaluation is likely to have contributed to the modest effect on guideline use.
In view of the modest effect on guideline use and the considerable resources required for an active, multi-component intervention such as the one in this study, a comparison between different implementation strategies with various components could provide valuable knowledge.
However, recent studies have reported that the methodological quality of many guidelines is modest and is heterogeneous between the different guidelines and different guideline programmes (Shaneyfelt et al, 1999; Grilli et al, 2000; Lacasse et al, 2001; Burgers et al, 2003a).
Some loan programs are quite modest, with strict guidelines.
