Abstract
BackgroundEvidence on the relation between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older adults is based primarily on clinical trials of physical exercise programs in institutionalized persons and on cross-sectional studies of community-dwelling persons. Moreover, there is no evidence on whether leisure-time sedentary behavior (LTSB) is associated with HRQoL independently of LTPA. This study examined the longitudinal association between LTPA, LTSB, and HRQoL in older community-dwelling adults in Spain.MethodsProspective cohort study of 1,097 persons aged 62 and over. In 2003 LTPA in MET-hr/week was measured with a validated questionnaire, and LTSB was estimated by the number of sitting hours per week. In 2009 HRQoL was measured with the SF-36 questionnaire. Analyses were done with linear regression and adjusted for the main confounders.ResultsCompared with those who did no LTPA, subjects in the upper quartile of LTPA had better scores on the SF-36 scales of physical functioning (β 5.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32-9.98; p linear trend < 0.001), physical role (β 7.38; 95% CI 0.16-14.93; p linear trend < 0.001), bodily pain (β 6.92; 95% CI 1.86-11.98; p linear trend < 0.01), vitality (β 5.09; 95% CI 0.76-9.41; p linear trend < 0.004) social functioning (β 7.83; 95% CI 2.89-12.75; p linear trend < 0.001), emotional role (β 8.59; 95% CI 1.97-15.21; p linear trend < 0.02) and mental health (β 4.20; 95% CI 0.26-8.13; p linear trend < 0.06). As suggested by previous work in this field, these associations were clinically relevant because the β regression coefficients were higher than 3 points. Finally, the number of sitting hours showed a gradual and inverse relation with the scores on most of the SF-36 scales, which was also clinically relevant.ConclusionsGreater LTPA and less LTSB were independently associated with better long-term HRQoL in older adults.
Highlights
Evidence on the relation between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older adults is based primarily on clinical trials of physical exercise programs in institutionalized persons and on cross-sectional studies of community-dwelling persons
Our results show that greater LTPA and less leisure-time sedentary behavior (LTSB) are independently associated with better long-term HRQoL in older adults
Our results suggest that many dimensions of HRQoL can be effectively improved by the isotemporal replacement of LTSB by physical activity of just light intensity; in our population, replacement of LTSB by activities of moderate-to-vigorous intensity led to better physical functioning but not to clinically relevant improvements in other dimensions of HRQoL
Summary
Evidence on the relation between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older adults is based primarily on clinical trials of physical exercise programs in institutionalized persons and on cross-sectional studies of community-dwelling persons. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a global indicator of health resulting from the individual’s perception of the impact that diseases exert on different only one study in elderly women has shown a longitudinal association between higher LTPA and better HRQoL;[17] it was limited to examining the effect of LTPA on the mental components of HRQoL, and did not include the physical components. We conducted a longitudinal study of the association of LTPA and number of sitting hours with HRQoL in older adults This association is important because of several reasons: the elderly are the population segment with the largest increase over the last decades, their HRQoL worsens with age, and LTPA and LTSB are modifiable behaviors
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