ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Being active has been shown to have beneficial effects for the
health of individuals with
chronic diseases . However, data on the
association between
multimorbidity and
physical activity are limited.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the
association between
chronic diseases ,
multimorbidity and insufficient
physical activity among older
adults in southern
Brazil , according to
sex . DESIGN AND
SETTING: Cross-sectional
population -based and
household -based study derived from the second
wave (2013-2014) of the EpiFloripa
Aging Cohort Study .
METHODS: Insufficiency of
physical activity (outcome) was ascertained using the long version of the International
Physical Activity Questionnaire (≤ 150 minutes/week). Eleven
self -reported
chronic diseases were identified.
Multimorbidity was defined from the number of
chronic diseases (none; 2 or 3; or 4 or more). The
adjustment variables were age, schooling,
marital status ,
income ,
smoking ,
alcohol consumption and
cognition . Additionally, each
chronic disease was adjusted for the others.
Associations were tested using
logistic regression (crude and adjusted).
RESULTS: Among the 1197 participants (≥ 63 years),
women (54.0%) were more likely than
men (39.6%) to be insufficiently active. In the adjusted
analysis ,
women and
men with
depressive symptoms , and
men with diabetes, were more likely to be insufficiently active than those without symptoms. Multimorbid
women were more likely to be insufficiently active, and the
magnitude of the effect was strongest for 4 or more
diseases .
CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the
associations were
sex -specific.
Depressive symptoms and
multimorbidity were associated with insufficient
physical activity among
women , while diabetes was associated with insufficient
physical activity among
men .