Associations between Life-Time Physical Activity Levels, Sedentary Time and Health Outcomes among Older Adults

Main Article Content

Fikriye Yılmaz
Atakan Yılmaz

Keywords

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Older Adults, Life Time

Abstract

Study Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the associations between the participation levels of the elderly in physical activities through their lives, their sedentary time, and health outcomes. Methods: The data of the study were collected in 2017 with a questionnaire, in which 300 older adults were selected by convenience sampling method in Ankara, Turkey. The questionnaire consists of questions for determining the socio-demographic characteristics and health status of older adults, life-time physical activity indicators, and sedentary time. The research was evaluated with descriptive statistics, Chi-square analysis, Independent Samples t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: 53.7% of the 300 older adults participating in the study were female and the average age was 67.74±3.67 years. 58.3% of the participants were categorized as physically “active” currently or in two periods of their lives. The average sedentary time of participants was 5.7 hours for one day. According to Chi-square analysis, those who were younger, those with lower household income, those who evaluated their health status as good and who had no chronic diseases were physically more active (p<0.05). Independent samples t-test results demonstrated that the quality of life scores of those who were physically active was higher in comparison to those who were inactive (p<0.05). According to independent samples t-test, the average sedentary time of those who evaluated their health status as good and those with a chronic disease was found to be shorter. It was found that there was a negative moderately significant relationship between sedentary time and quality of life scores among older adults. Conclusion: In this study, it was concluded that life-time physical activity levels and sedentary time of older adults were an important indicator for their health outcomes.

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