Physical Activity, Physical Function and Neighborhood Environment Adaptation Among Older Adults Dwelling in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Consequent upon the increasing pressure on health system created by growing population of older adults, attention has been channeled to ways to smoothen the aging process among older adults including studying on their physical activity (PA), physical function (PF) and neighborhood environment adaptation (NEA). This study aimed to determine the level and interrelationships between PA, PF and NEA among older adults dwelling in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria. Methodology: This is a cross sectional study involving 150 older adults (56% females; mean age = 72.57±6.32 years) consecutively recruited from communities in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the Physical Function Activity Scale (SF-36) and Physical Activity Neighborhood Environment scale in Nigeria (PANES-N) were used to assess physical activity, physical function and neighborhood environment adaptation among the participants respectively. Data was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation and spearman’s correlation test at alpha level of 0.05. Results: The mean total of PA, PF, and NEA scores were 1324±1124.35MET-min/week (adequate), 60.58±17.44 (dependent), 2.32±0.27 (moderate) respectively. PF had direct correlation with PA (rho=0.69; p=<0.001) and general health (rho=0.51; p=<0.01). There was no significant correlation between PF and NEA (rho=0.15; p=0.07). PA had direct correlation with NEA (rho=0.34; p=<0.01) and general health (rho=0.65; p=<0.01) also having inverse correlation with each of age (rho=-0.58; p=<0.01) and education attainment (rho=-0.17; p=0.04) of the participants. There was inverse correlation between age and PF (rho=-0.63; p=<0.01) and each of NEA (rho=-0.19; p=0.02) and general health (rho=-0.57; p=<0.01) of the participants. Conclusion: Older adults dwelling in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria had adequate PA, dependent in PF and moderate NEA. Their PA correlated with each of their PF and NEA. This suggests that improvement of PA among older adults ameliorate their problem with PF and NEA.