Physical activity practice among older adults: results of the ELSI-Brazil

Peixoto, Sérgio Viana; Mambrini, Juliana Vaz de Melo; Firmo, Josélia Oliveira Araújo; Loyola Filho, Antônio Ignácio de; Souza Junior, Paulo Roberto Borges de; Andrade, Fabíola Bof de; Lima-Costa, Maria Fernanda

doi:10.11606/S1518-8787.2018052000605

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Supplement ELSI-Brazil, Original Article • Rev. Saúde Pública 52 (Suppl 2) • 2018 • https://doi.org/10.11606/S1518-8787.2018052000605 copy

Physical activity practice among older adults: results of the ELSI-Brazil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE

To describe the prevalence of the practice of physical activity (PA) among older Brazilian adults and associated factors. In addition, potential effect modifiers of the association between PA and age were investigated.

METHODS

We have analyzed data from 8,736 participants (92.8%) aged 50 and older from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil). Physical activity was measured using the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The outcome variable was defined as at least 150 minutes of weekly activities in all domains. The exploratory variables were age, sex, education, ethnicity, marital status, number of chronic diseases and medical appointments, and knowledge about or participation in public programs that encourage physical activity. Logistic regression and estimates of predicted probabilities were performed.

RESULTS

The prevalence of recommended levels of physical activity was 67.0% (95%CI 64.3–69.5). Physical activity was associated with age [odds ratio (OR) = 0.97; 95%CI 0.96–0.98], higher educational level (OR = 1.27; 95%CI 1.11–1.45 for 4–7 years and OR = 1.52; 95%CI 1.28–1.81 for eight years or more), participants who were married/ in a long term relationship (OR = 1.22; 95%CI 1.08–1.38), and those who reported knowledge about (OR = 1.34; 95%CI 1.16–1.54) or participation in (OR = 1.78; 95%CI 1.34–2.36) a program aimed at the practice of physical activity. Women and those with lower educational level (p value for interaction < 0.05) reported lower physical activity levels.

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to the association with marital status and health promotion programs, there were significant sex and educational level inequalities in physical activity decline later in life. These findings help the identification of groups more vulnerable to decreased physical activity levels with aging, as well as the planning of health promotion strategies, especially in older groups.

Aged; Exercise; Sedentary Lifestyle; Epidemiologic Factors; Socioeconomic Factors

Variable	Total ^a a Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging. Rio de Janeiro; c2015 [cited 2017 Nov 28]. Available from: http://elsi.cpqrr.fiocruz.br	Level of weekly physical activity ^a		p

		Recommended ^b	Not recommended
Age in years, mean (standard deviation)	62.8 (9.7)	61.6 (8.7)	65.1 (11.0)	< 0.001
Sex
Female	53.5	52.8	54.8	0.237
Male	46.5	47.2	45.2
Educational level in years
< 4	31.4	27.3	39.8	< 0.001
4 to 7	31.7	32.0	30.9
8 or more	36.9	40.7	29.3
Marital status
Unmarried	36.1	33.4	41.4	< 0.001
Married/Common-law marriage	63.9	66.6	58.6
Race
Non-white	57.3	56.3	59.3	0.138
White	42.7	43.7	40.7
Number of chronic diseases
Zero	27.1	28.6	24.1	< 0.001
One	33.1	33.5	32.2
Two or more	39.8	37.9	43.7
Number of medical appointments in the past 12 months
Zero	16.7	16.9	16.5	0.205
1 to 2	34.4	35.2	32.8
3 or more	48,9	47.9	50.7
Knowledge and participation in a physical activity program
No knowledge	56.8	53.2	64.2	< 0.001
With knowledge, but no participation	37.5	40.3	31.8
Knowledge and participation	5.7	6.5	4.0

Variable	Recommended level of physical activity*

	Crude OR (95%CI)	Adjusted OR (95%CI)
Age in years	0.96 (0.96–0.97)	0.97 (0.96–0.98)
Male (ref: female)	1.08 (0.95–1.24)	0.99 (0.85–1.16)
Educational level in years (ref: < 4)
4 to 7	1.51 (1.30–1.76)	1.27 (1.11–1.45)
8 or more	2.03 (1.69–2.43)	1.52 (1.28–1.81)
Marital status (ref: unmarried)
Married/Common-law marriage	1.40 (1.25–1.58)	1.22 (1.08–1.38)
Race (ref: non-white)
White	1.13 (0.96–1.33)	1.07 (0.92–1.25)
Number of chronic diseases (ref: zero)
One	0.88 (0.74–1.04)	0.96 (0.80–1.16)
Two or more	0.73 (0.62–0.87)	0.87 (0.71–1.06)
Number of medical appointments in the last 12 months (ref: zero)
1 to 2	1.05 (0.89–1.24)	1.10 (0.92–1.31)
3 or more	0.92 (0.78–1.10)	0.98 (0.81–1.18)
Knowledge and participation in a physical activity program (ref: no knowledge)
With knowledge, but no participation	1.52 (1.32–1.76)	1.34 (1.16–1.54)
Knowledge and participation	1.95 (1.47–2.60)	1.78 (1.34–2.36)

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[1] Correspondence: Sérgio Viana Peixoto. Av. Augusto de Lima, 1715 30190-009 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil E-mail: sergio@minas.fiocruz.br