Associations between socioeconomic status and physical activity among older adults: cross-sectional results from the OUTDOOR ACTIVE study

Abstract

Background Regular physical activity (PA) is an important strategy for healthy ageing. Socioeconomic status was found to be a key determinant of PA, however, evidence on associations between socioeconomic status and PA among older adults is limited. The aim of this study was to contribute to research on the associations of socioeconomic status and PA among older adults by including self-reported and objectively measured PA data. Furthermore, we examined the self-reported PA data more closely by looking at the activities separately. Methods Cross-sectional data of 1507 participants (52.5% female) of the OUTDOOR ACTIVE study between 65 and 75 years, residing in Bremen, Germany, were included in the analyses. Self-reported PA was assessed via questionnaire and comprised all organised and non-organised activities. For analyses, mean hours per week of total and moderate to vigorous PA, and mean metabolic equivalents per week were used. Objectively measured PA was assessed using accelerometers over seven consecutive days. Socioeconomic status was included as an additive social class index containing education, income, and occupation. To test for associations between PA and socioeconomic status, linear regressions were carried out. Results Self-reported PA showed significant negative associations with socioeconomic status for both men and women. Objectively measured PA was positively associated with socioeconomic status, which was significant in men but not in women. When examining physical activities separately, time spent on housework, gardening, biking, and walking decreased with increasing socioeconomic status. Women in the second SES quintile and men in the third quintile reported the most, and women in the first quintile and men in the fifth quintile the least hours per week spent on exercise. Conclusions The results of this study contributed to the existing research gap on the associations of socioeconomic status and PA among older adults. Moreover, we provided information on both self-reported and objectively measured PA, and showed the discrepancies in the two methods’ results. These findings can help to develop PA promotion interventions targeting specific socioeconomic status groups and to develop accurate, valid, and reliable self-reported and objective measurements of PA for older adults.

Meanings Attributed to Physical Activity and Changes in Self-Reported and Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity among Recent Retirees

“…However, Practical Facilitators was observed to be positively associated only with changes in accelerometer-measured Total PA over the 12 months, which may reflect the higher relevance of environmental facilitators for non-exercise related physical activities [ 53 , 54 ]. Thus, the higher importance attributed to Practical Facilitators by recent retirees with a low occupational background may also indicate a higher preference for non-exercise related physical activities among retirees with lower socioeconomical statuses [ 15 , 51 , 55 ]. However, the observed association with Practical Facilitators and changes in total PA could also be due to the high proportion of women in the sample, for whom the environmental facilitators may have higher relevance [ 56 , 57 ].…”

“…This observation could be due to different preferences for recreational physical activity among those retiring from physically demanding occupations when compared with those retiring from sedentary occupations [ 11 , 13 , 15 ]. In addition, recent retirees with lower socioeconomical status may be more likely to place higher value on purposeful physical activities [ 15 , 55 ], which could also be reflected in the meanings attributed to physical activity. Thus, further research on the varying importance of different preferences and facilitators of physical activity across socioeconomical backgrounds among recent retirees is warranted [ 59 ].…”

Meal Patterns of Older Adults: Results from the OUTDOOR ACTIVE Study

“…For SES, an additive social class index containing education, income, and occupation was calculated and categorised into quintiles, with the first quintile representing a low SES and the fifth a high SES (for more details, see [ 32 ]).…”

Influence of health literacy on health outcomes of different social strata—— an empirical study based on the data of China's health literacy investigation

“…Use profession status, education level and income level to measure the socioeconomic status of the respondents. As for which of the three variables of education, income and occupation is more important, the opinions of various researchers are not consistent [28,29], so this paper still adds these three variables with equal weight [30]. The health literacy questionnaire included three types of questions: true/false (correct response received 1 points), single-answer (correct response received 1 points), and multiple-answer (correct responses received 2 points).…”