Abstract
Walking is a great health promotion strategy due to its beneficial effects. Objetive: To identify the prevalence of walking for leisure and for commuting to work and its association with sociodemographic factors among 47,477 Brazilian workers. Walking and sociodemographic factors were obtained from a self-reported questionnaire. Poisson regression was used. Among men, walking for leisure was more frequent in those who were older, live with a partner, had a higher level of education and income, and worked in the Southeastern region of Brazil. When commuting, it was more prevalent among single men, who had a lower level of education and income and worked in the Southern region of this country. Among women, walking for leisure was more common in those who lived with a partner, had no children, and worked in the Southern region. There was an association between the outcome and age, education and family income. Regarding commuting, it was more prevalent among older individuals, without a partner, with a lower level of education and income, and working in the Southern region. Walking was associated with sociodemographic characteristics, with differences between sexes.
Highlights
The negative consequences of physical inactivity to health is considered of the most important risk behaviors for morbidity and mortality (Hallal et al, 2007; World Health Organization, 2009; Lee et al, 2012)
For leisure time, national and international studies indicate that walking is the main physical activity in adult populations (Lee, Sesso, Oguma, & Paffenbarger, 2004; Hallal et al, 2005) with prevalence ranging from 8.8% to 35% (Gomes et al, 2011; Parra et al, 2011)
The prevalence of walking was 13.59% for leisure and 11.44% for commuting to work. 11.65% of men and 18.16% of women practiced walking during leisure time
Summary
The negative consequences of physical inactivity to health is considered of the most important risk behaviors for morbidity and mortality (Hallal et al, 2007; World Health Organization, 2009; Lee et al, 2012). For leisure time, national and international studies indicate that walking is the main physical activity in adult populations (Lee, Sesso, Oguma, & Paffenbarger , 2004; Hallal et al, 2005) with prevalence ranging from 8.8% to 35% (Gomes et al, 2011; Parra et al, 2011) This activity can provide better health perception, prevent disease, promote psychological well-being (Lee et al, 2004; Gomes et al, 2011), reduce expenses on medication (Codogno et al, 2015; Turi et al, 2015) and reduce mortality risk (Barros & Nahas, 2001; Lee et al, 2004; Autenrieth et al, 2011). There is evidence that people who commute to work by walking have many health benefits (WHO, 2009; Lee et al, 2004), a better health perception (Tassitano, Feitosa & Tenório, 2013), lower risk of chronic diseases, especially obesity (Gordon-Larsen et al, 2009) and lower health expenses (Codogno et al, 2015)
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