Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the May 2014 issue of Vital Signs™ entitled Adults with Disabilities, Physical Activity is For Everyone. This report shares new data and calls to action on the importance of physical activity for adults with disabilities. 

Key highlights of the report are:

• More than 21 million working age adults (18-64 years of age) in the U.S. have a disability, and nearly half of them get no aerobic physical activity.
• Working age adults with disabilities who do not get any aerobic physical activity are 50 percent more likely than their active peers to have a chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, stroke, or heart disease.
• Adults with disabilities are 82 percent more likely to be physically active if their doctor recommended it.
• There are 5 steps that doctors can use to discuss and recommend physical activity to their adult patients with disabilities.

This launch includes a package of products and tools, including:

• Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) – scientific article
• Fact sheet with key messages about new data and information, infographics, and calls to action
• Digital press kit including press release
• Online videos and podcasts
• Social media tools and messages

Opportunities to Engage:
CDC welcomes you to engage in this important release by using the Vital Signs™ products and tools and sharing the messages with your networks. 

Resources:
CDC has developed a dedicated resource page for doctors and other health professionals with information to help them recommend physical activity to their adult patients with disabilities which can be accessed here: www.cdc.gov/disabilities/PA.   

About Vital Signs:
Vital Signs is a CDC report that appears on the first Tuesday of the month as part of the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, or MMWR. The report provides the latest data and information on key health indicators. These are cancer prevention, obesity, tobacco use, motor vehicle passenger safety, prescription drug overdose, HIV/AIDS, alcohol use, health care-associated infections, cardiovascular health, teen pregnancy, food safety and developmental disabilities.