Initial Validation of an Exercise "Vital Sign in Electronic Medical Records.

The article discusses research which was conducted to describe the face and discriminant validity of an exercise vital sign (EVS) for use in an outpatient electronic medical record. Researchers evaluated the medical records of 1,793,385 adults 18 yr and older who were members of a large health care system in Southern California. They found that the EVS has good face and discriminant validity and may provide more conservative estimates of physical activity behavior when compared with national surveys. They concluded that the EVS has the potential to provide information about the relationship between exercise and health care use, cost, and chronic disease that has not been previously available at the population level.