Device-Measured Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviors, Built Environment, and Adiposity Gain in Older Women: A Seven-Year Prospective Study.

Pablo Molina-Garcia,Miroslava Přidalová,Jana Pelclová,Lenka Tlučáková,Izabela Zając-Gawlak,María Medrano

doi:10.3390/ijerph18063074

Abstract

The search for determinants of adiposity gain in older women has become vitally important. This study aimed to (1) analyze the adiposity gain based on the participants’ age and (2) determine the prospective associations of baseline intrapersonal, built environment, physical activity, and sedentary behavior variables with the adiposity gain in older women. This was a seven-year prospective study (baseline: 2009 to 2012; follow-up: 2016 to 2019) in older women (n = 178, baseline age = 62.8 ± 4.1 years). Baseline and follow-up adiposity (bioelectrical impedance) and baseline physical activity, sedentary behavior (accelerometers), and intrapersonal and built environment (Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale questionnaire) variables were included. The body mass index (BMI) increment tended to be inversely associated with the women’s age (p = 0.062). At follow-up, 48, 57, and 54% of the women had a relevant increase (d-Cohen > 0.2) in their BMI, percentage of body fat, and fat mass index, respectively. The women that spent ≥8 h/day being sedentary were 2.2 times (1.159 to 4.327 CI95%, p < 0.02) more likely to increase BMI (0.82 to 0.85 kg/m2) than non-sedentary women. No built environment variables were associated with seven-year adiposity gain (all ps > 0.05). A reduction in sedentary time should be promoted for adiposity gain prevention and health preservation in older women.

Highlights

The ageing of the world’s population will have an important influence on healthcare in the coming decades [1,2]
The main findings of the present study are that during this follow-up period, approximately half of women had a relevant increase in body mass index (BMI), FM%, or fat mass index (FMI), and that sedentary women were more likely to experience a relevant increase in BMI after a seven-year follow-up period
Women participating in this study gained BMI, FM%, and FMI at seven-year followup, it attenuated with increasing age

Summary

Introduction

The ageing of the world’s population will have an important influence on healthcare in the coming decades [1,2]. Excess adiposity increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer, or mental diseases, among other morbidities and conditions in this population [5]. For this reason, we must detect the determinants, both interpersonal and contextual, of adiposity gain over time in older adults to enable its prevention or decrease. Some longitudinal studies have analyzed the associations of intrapersonal (education and socio-economic information), built environment, and/or physical activity (PA) or sedentary behavior variables with adiposity in older adults [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. The built environment is defined as the humanformed, developed, and structured areas such as roads, utilities, or fixtures that form

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