IJCS | Volume 32, Nº5, September/October 2019

474 Meira et al. Talk the talk and walk the walk! Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2019;32(5):473-480 Original Article Sports and Physical Activity” supplement of the 2015 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), 100million Brazilians were not engaged in the practice of any sports, 5 and in Sao Paulo, 69.3% of individuals aged between 15 and 59 years is sedentary. The WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or at least 75 minutes of vigorous- intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week, or any combination of these. This recommendation is adopted by the Brazilian Society of Cardiology. Patra et al., 6 observed that better habits of physical exercise among physicians were associated with better patient counseling on this practice. Physically active physicians were three times more likely to regularly promote and advise their patients on physical activity. Of the146 professionals interviewed, 62% reported to be inactive. The main barriers to physical activity were reported to be lack of time, lack of motivation, and being too tired, and half of them (51.4%) reported to be familiar with the WHO recommendations on physical activity. Recently, the American Heart Association, in a “call to action” for a National Physical Activity Plan, highlighted that counseling of health care professionals has a significant effect on adoption of healthy behaviors, including regular exercise, which is one of the most powerful strategies for health promotion that physicians and other health care professionals can recommend to patients. 7 The objectives of the studywere 1) to evaluate whether knowledge about the WHO recommendations was greater among physically active individuals; 2) and if there is a relationship between this knowledge and the fact of being (or not) a cardiologist physician. Methods During the Rio de Janeiro Society of Cardiology Congress held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between April 14 and 16, 2017, attendees were randomly approached by interviewers (a fifth-year medical school student or a physical educator, previously trained by a cardiologist) and invited to answer an interview question and a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were collected during the three days of the meeting, during the breaks between the lecturers. The first part (interview) consisted of one question with five alternatives: “How much weekly exercise is recommended by the WHO?” 8,9 The correct answer, according to the WHO and to the Brazilian Society of Cardiology guidelines, was 150 minutes of moderate- intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. All other alternative answers presented different amounts of exercise. At the second phase, a self-administered questionnaire was administered to quantify the amount of exercise practiced by the volunteer. This questionnaire was composed of three closed questions about frequency, intensity and duration of exercise. Each answer was assigned a point value, which was computed for the Physical Activity Summary Index (PA-I). 10 At this phase, participants also reported their body weight and height for body mass index (BMI) calculation, and age in years. The answers to both questionnaires were sent to a database via an online form. Following the interview and the questionnaire, volunteers had their heart rate measured using a digital oximeter (MeasuPro Instant Read Digital Pulse Oximeter ® ) while resting in standing position for three minutes. Heart rate was measured preferentially from the right index finger, with elbow flexed to 90 degrees, with an expected error of ± 3 bpm according to manufacturer’s specifications. Each measurement should have lasted at least 10 seconds, and had a high signal quality, defined as a high-amplitude pulse oximetry wave on the oximeter display. Heart rate measurements were repeated two minutes later in case of values greater than 90 beats per minute. PA-I, BMI, age and heart rate were used for VO 2 max estimation using the formula proposed by Kurtze et al., 11 This formula has been used in the World Fitness Study (https://www.worldfitnesslevel.org) , 12 a project of the European Society of Cardiology, from which the values predicted for each age within the range between 20 and 90 years were derived. Volunteers were classified as inactive, lightly active, moderately active, and highly active based on PA-I values, as proposed by Apenes et al., 10 who showed the high reliability of this index. A PA-I of 0.05 - 1.50 indicated lightly active, a PA-I of 1.51-3.75 moderately active, and a PA-I of 3.76 - 15.00 highly active. The percentage of correct answers to the question “How much weekly exercise is recommended by the WHO?” was compared by level of physical activity, i.e., by the presence or not of a poor aerobic conditioning (lower than 80% of predicted by age and sex) and occupation, whichwas stratified in non-physicians, cardiologists, and non-cardiologist physicians. Besides, the percentage of VO 2 predicted by age was compared between volunteers