[Population-based study of exercise habits in the counties of Alt Camp and Conca de Barvera (Tarragona)].

To find the proportion of the adult population that practice physical exercise habitually.An observational study of a crossover nature.The counties of Alt Camp and Conca de Barbera (Tarragona).A two-stage random sampling (stratified by age, gender and type of town) was performed on the different municipal registers in the counties and a representative sample of 672 people between 15 and 90 was extracted.By means of a home interview, a questionnaire to determine whether the interviewees practiced regular physical exercise was filled out (physical activity carried out in their free time, three or more days per week).The most notable finding was that 47.3% of the whole sample practiced physical exercise (49.5% of men and 45.3% of women, NS). The youngest (15 to 29) were those who did most physical exercise (58.7%): this was statistically significant in comparison with the other age groups (p < 0.01).The results are comparable to those recorded in other studies in our country and could also serve as an indicator for those population-groups with similar demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics to our own.