A comparative community-based study of physical activity in the elderly was carried out between two Japanese rural towns, Kahoku and Yaku. This study included a questionnaire about activity of daily living (ADL) and information-related functions in relation to lifestyle. Subjects were all the eligible elderly aged over 65 years of each community (1618 and 704 subjects in Kahoku and Yaku respectively). The ratio of the eligible elderly aged over 65 years were 32% in Kahoku and 2% in Yaku. The response rates were 91% in Kahoku and 51% in Yaku. Common findings in both towns were as below; 1) scores in ADL decreased with advancing age, 2) information-related functions were similar in each town, and between genders, 3) marital condition among males was similar in both towns, 4) ADL scores were higher in the financially rich group than in the poor one, 5) ADL scores were higher in female subjects whose husbands were alive than in widows, 6) ADL scores were higher in subjects who walked every day than those who did not, 7) ADL scores were lower in subjects who took medicine every day than those who did not, however, this finding did not apply to antihypertensive drugs, 8) ADL scores were higher in subjects who drank in beverages than in those who never imbibed. The different results between Kahoku and Yaku were supposed to be due to differences in lifestyle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)