Revision of the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q).

TLDR

The original Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR‑Q) was found to exclude an excessive proportion of apparently healthy older adults. An expert committee from Fitness Canada revised the questionnaire wording to reduce these unnecessary exclusions. The study compared responses to the original and revised PAR‑Q in 399 participants across 40 accredited fitness testing centres in Canada. The revised PAR‑Q lowered the number of subjects screened out from 68 to 48 (p < .05), largely by correcting erroneous positive responses about high blood pressure, thereby effectively reducing unnecessary exclusions.

Abstract

The original Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) offers a safe preliminary screening of candidates for exercise testing and prescription, but it screens out what seems an excessive proportion of apparently healthy older adults. To reduce unnecessary exclusions, an expert committee established by Fitness Canada has now revised the questionnaire wording. The present study compares responses to the original and the revised PAR-Q questionnaire in 399 men and women attending 40 accredited fitness testing centres across Canada. The number of subjects screened out by the revised test decreased significantly (p < .05), from 68 to 48 of the 399 subjects. The change reflects in part the inclusion of individuals who had made an erroneous positive response to the original question regarding high blood pressure. There is no simple gold standard to provide an objective evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of either questionnaire format, but the revised wording has apparently had the intended effect of reducing positive responses, particularly to the question regarding an elevation of blood pressure.