Factors Associated with Physical Activity among People with Hypertension in a Rural Area in Bangladesh: Baseline Data from a Cluster Randomized Control Trial.

Fakir M Amirul Islam

doi:10.3390/ijerph18147365

Abstract

The health benefits of physical activity (PA) are well recognized, and PA levels vary in different populations. The study aimed to investigate PA levels and associated sociodemographic factors among people with hypertension in a rural area in Bangladesh. Baseline data were part of a cluster randomized controlled trial of 307 adults aged 30–75 years to study the effectiveness of PA and lifestyle changes in lowering blood pressure. The outcome variables were PA at work, commuter, recreation, metabolic equivalent task (MET)-minute per week and sitting time. Total 68 (22.1%) people participated in vigorous-intensity activity, 23 (7.5%) participated in moderate-intensity sports. Overall, 83% of people were physically active more than 600 MET-min. Women (OR 2.95, 95% CI, 1.36–6.39) compared to men, and people with no education (OR 4.47, 95% CI, 1.62–12.33) compared to people with secondary school certificates or above were less physically active. Of total PA, 63% were work-related, and 1% were recreation-related for women, and these figures were 55% and 3% for men. The study reports that vigorous-intensity PA is low, and recreation time is minimal. Routine PA, especially for women and people with low education levels, should be encouraged to increase PA to manage hypertension.

Highlights

Data from the current study suggest that only one-third of the participants could maintain their blood pressure level with the cut-off of SBP ≤ 140 mmHg or DBP ≤ 90 mmHg [32], generally, the prevalence of physical activity (PA) among rural people in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) was high [18,19,20,21,22,23,24]
Half of the participants had primary to high school level of education, half of the participants were homemakers, one-third of the participants were poor, and the rest were middle class or wealthy
22.1% of people participated in a vigorous-intensity activity with median (quartile 1 (Q1), quartile 3 (Q3)) 15 (6, 25) hours, and 62.2% participated in a moderate-intensity activity with median (Q1, Q3) 12 (7, 21) per week