Physical activity level and associated factors: an epidemiological study with elderly

Abstract

Introduction: This study is relevant insofar since it provides information on the elements that interfere in the level of physical activity of the elderly that attend the Fitness zone. Objective: Identifying the level of physical activity and its associated factors related to the elderly who usually go to third age fitness centers in Maringá/PR. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 970 elderly users of the Fitness zone of the municipality of Maringá, state of Paraná, Brazil. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used. The data were analyzed by the Pearson’s Chi-squared, the Binary Logistic Regression and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (p < 0,05). Results: The data indicates that being married (p = 0,047) and having completed higher education (p = 0,001) is significantly associated with higher physical activity level. The lower use of medication (p = 0,008), the excellent health perception (p = 0,037), and no history of near-falls (p = 0,038) were associated with the physical activity practice. The subjects who had no history of near-falls in the last six months and who did not have osteoporosis were 1.671 [95% CI = 1.009-2.613] and 1.891 [95% CI = 1.008-2.915] times more likely to be active/very active when compared to the elderly who had near-falls in the last semester and who had osteoporosis. Conclusion: It was concluded that sociodemographic variables and health conditions are associated to the physical activity level in the elderly. Further, elderly who reported the absence of a history of near falls and osteoporosis have more chance to be physically active.

Evaluation of the influence of nutritional status, measures of frailty and level of physical activity on the quality of life of long-lived individuals

“…Regular physical activity is important in maintaining the health of older people, which should be increasingly encouraged in long-lived adults. Oliveira et al [27] found a significant association between PAL and perceived health (p = 0.037), number of drugs used (p = 0.008) and the history of near falls among older individuals in the last semester (p = 0.038), demonstrating that physical activity was important in reducing actions associated with health-related variables.…”

Profiles of Physical Activity and Physical Performance in Matched Religious Vegetarian and Nonvegetarian Women: A Preliminary Observational Study in Taiwan

“…In addition to vegetarian types and BMI, sociodemographic variables and health conditions have been suggested to be associated with physical activity levels [ 45 , 46 ]. However, in the present study, we did not find significant differences in sociodemographic variables and comorbidities (except for osteoarthritis) between vegetarian and nonvegetarian women.…”

Validity and precision of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for climacteric women using computational intelligence techniques

“…However, the Dunn index suggests categorization into four groups, which is already proposed in the literature by Matsudo et al [ 26 ], which recommends classifying the investigated as sedentary, insufficiently active, active and very active. It should be noted that other studies carried out by Brazilian researchers have already done the clustering into two groups [ 59 – 63 ]. In it, was possible to observe the reclustering between the sedentary/insufficiently active and active/very active categories.…”