Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior: A Cross-Sectional Study of Brazilian Older Adults

Abstract

Background: To examine the level of physical activity and sedentary behavior (SB), measured with accelerometers, in older adults from a city in southern Brazil according to sociodemographic and health characteristics. Methods: The sample consisted of 425 older adults (≥63 y) from the EpiFloripa Aging Study. Light physical activity (LPA), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and SB were measured with accelerometers over a period of 7 days. Results: The older adults spent two-thirds of the time of use in SB, one-third in LPA, and only 2.1% (95% confidence interval, 1.8–2.2) in MVPA. In the final adjusted model, lower levels of MVPA were observed for women, as well as higher SB and lower LPA and MVPA for those with higher age. There were also trends toward prolonged SB and lower LPA when participants had a higher educational level and toward lower MVPA with higher body mass index. Conclusions: Constant monitoring of physical activity levels and SB using objective measures is recommended and interventions should be directed at the groups most exposed to excessive SB and low levels of MVPA.

Leisure-time physical activity as a protective factor for functional capacity loss in community dwelling elders

“…Our study found that the obese and overweight elder had a higher chance of having limitations in the ADL than the eutrophic ones, results also found by other studies (Dos Santos et al, 2018;Palacios-Ceña et al, 2012). This relationship can be explained because obesity is related to low PA on the part of obese and because excess body fat is associated with the development of CNCD (Jensen&Hsiao, 2010), contributing to the functional loss.…”

“…The results of this study reinforce the notion that FC is determined by a wide network of socio-demographic, behavioral and health factors. As in previous studies, this study shows that women, the non-married, those with lower income (Matos et al, 2018), with lower schooling, with a higher number of diagnoses, those who take more than 5 medicines, and those inactives or insufficiently actives have a higher chance of being dependent in daily life (Ballesteros, Moreno-Montoya, 2018;dos Santos et al, 2018;Artaud et al, 2016).…”

“…Similarly, a cross-sectional study with 604 elderlies of Florianópolis, Brazil measured the FC using the BOMFAQ, the PA using the IPAQ and accelerometes. The results showed that sedentarism is associated with low FC and that high levels of PA contributed to greater independence (Dos Santos et al, 2018).…”

“…Several intervention studies promoting leisuretime physical activity (LTPA) have found that regular physical activity is a health protective factor (Valério et al, 2014;Novais et al, 2019). However, few studies have evaluated the impact of LTPA on the degree of independence in the activities of daily living (ADL) (Ferreira et al, 2010;Dos Santos et al, 2018). Thus, understanding the factors related to a good FC of the elderly can help the planning of public policies aiming at the manteinance of functional independence of the elderly in the community for as long as possible.…”

Are Barriers the Same Whether I Want to Start or Maintain Exercise? A Narrative Review on Healthy Older Adults

“…To address the uncertainties and subjectivity that may be present in self-reported questionnaires, some studies have used accelerometers. Indeed, recent studies have shown that the use of accelerometers in older adults to measure physical activity levels provides more reliable information [ 84 , 85 ]. However, it is difficult to use accelerometers over a long period of time [ 86 ].…”