Abstract
BackgroundWeather is a potentially important determinant of physical activity. Little work has been done examining the relationship between weather and physical activity, and potential modifiers of any relationship in older people. We therefore examined the relationship between weather and physical activity in a cohort of older community-dwelling people.MethodsWe analysed prospectively collected cross-sectional activity data from community-dwelling people aged 65 and over in the Physical Activity Cohort Scotland. We correlated seven day triaxial accelerometry data with daily weather data (temperature, day length, sunshine, snow, rain), and a series of potential effect modifiers were tested in mixed models: environmental variables (urban vs rural dwelling, percentage of green space), psychological variables (anxiety, depression, perceived behavioural control), social variables (number of close contacts) and health status measured using the SF-36 questionnaire.Results547 participants, mean age 78.5 years, were included in this analysis. Higher minimum daily temperature and longer day length were associated with higher activity levels; these associations remained robust to adjustment for other significant associates of activity: age, perceived behavioural control, number of social contacts and physical function. Of the potential effect modifier variables, only urban vs rural dwelling and the SF-36 measure of social functioning enhanced the association between day length and activity; no variable modified the association between minimum temperature and activity.ConclusionsIn older community dwelling people, minimum temperature and day length were associated with objectively measured activity. There was little evidence for moderation of these associations through potentially modifiable health, environmental, social or psychological variables.
Highlights
Physical activity is a key determinant of future health and disability, in older people as well as in younger people [1]
Weather and day length are such variables, and whilst these variables themselves are not modifiable, a better understanding of their influence on activity levels would assist in finding ways to combat any deleterious effect that they might have on boosting activity levels, and might allow strategies to enhance any beneficial influence that weather and day length might have
Potential participants were excluded from the cohort if they were resident in institutional care, unwilling to participant, wheelchair or bedbound, had cognitive impairment sufficient to prevent written informed consent, or were enrolled in another research study
Summary
Physical activity is a key determinant of future health and disability, in older people as well as in younger people [1]. Few older people achieve recommended levels of physical activity [3], and the search for effective ways to improve everyday activity levels in older people has not been successful to date [4]. One area that has received comparatively little attention to date is the effect of environmental variables on activity levels in older people. Weather is a potentially important determinant of physical activity. Little work has been done examining the relationship between weather and physical activity, and potential modifiers of any relationship in older people. We examined the relationship between weather and physical activity in a cohort of older community-dwelling people
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