Abstract
BackgroundIdentifying correlates of sedentary behavior in older adults is of major importance to healthcare. To our knowledge, there are no population studies in Latin America examining which factors are associated to high sitting time in older adults. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify socio-demographic, clinical, and health behavior correlates of sitting time in a representative sample of older adults living in Southeastern Brazil.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in twenty-four municipalities of the Triangulo Mineiro region in the State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. A structured questionnaire was applied to obtain information on socio-demographic, clinical, and health behavior factors. Overall sitting time was assessed using a self-report instrument. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis was used to verify the association of sitting time with socio-demographic, clinical, and health behavior factors.Results3,296 older adults (61.5% women and 38.5% men) were included in the analysis. The overall median was 240.0 minutes of sitting time/day. The Multiple Correspondence Analysis showed that the group with the highest sitting time presented the following characteristics: women, age greater than 70 years, unschooled status, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, use of medication, poor self-rated health, dependence in basic activities of daily living, and absence of regular physical activity.ConclusionThis study reveals that socio-demographic, clinical, and health behavior factors are associated with high sitting time in older adults from Southeastern Brazil. The results may help to identify older adults that should be targeted in interventions aiming at reducing sitting time.
Highlights
Identifying correlates of sedentary behavior in older adults is of major importance to healthcare
The purpose of this study is to identify socio-demographic, clinical, and health behavior factors that are associated with high sitting time in a representative sample of older adults living in Southeastern Brazil
To our knowledge, this is the first population-based study in a Latin American country examining the sociodemographic, clinical and health behavior correlates of sitting time in older adults
Summary
Identifying correlates of sedentary behavior in older adults is of major importance to healthcare. Life expectancy has increased substantially in developed countries in the last fifty years This same phenomenon is taking place in developing countries and the impact of this demographic transition is one of the major challenges in the field of Public Healthcare [1,2]. In addition to the demographic transition, technological advances have facilitated performance of everyday tasks but at the same time are leading to a less active lifestyle [3]. This can be clearly seen with transportation habits in developed countries. Along with greater car utilization, many other technological advances have become more accessible to the Brazilian population and may result in increases in sedentary behavior
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