Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the prevalence of leisure-time physical activity among elderly Brazilians and its association with knowledge and participation in public programs to promote this practice.
Method
Cross-sectional study with data from 11,177 older adults from the 2013 National Health Survey. The response variable was the practice of leisure-time physical activity. The explanatory variables were knowledge and participation in public programs to promote physical activity, sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. The crude and adjusted association was estimated by Poisson regression with robust variance
Results
Most of the elderly were female and were between 60 and 69 years old; 17% knew but did not participate in public programs to promote physical activity, and only 3.2% knew and participated. The prevalence of active leisure time was 13.3%. In the adjusted analysis, it was higher among older adults who knew but did not participate and kew and participated in public programs to promote physical activity, in men, aged 60 to 79 years old, with five years old or more education; from the Northeast and Midwest regions, with chronic diseases, who had three or more medical appointments in the last 12 months and consumed fruits and vegetables five or more days a week.
Conclusion
The study showed a low adherence of the elderly to the practice of physical activity, and little knowledge and participation in public programs. Efforts are needed to expand the dissemination of these programs, promote the involvement of the population in these practices, and contribute to active aging.
Keywords
Elderly; Physical activity; Health Promotion; Health Survey
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