Physical activity and its correlates among school teachers in a semi-urban district of Nepal

Abstract

Regular physical activity (PA) is one of the effective strategies for mitigating non-communicable diseases, promoting healthy ageing, and preventing premature mortality. In South Asia, up to 34.0% of adults are insufficiently active, and up to 44.1% of adults in Nepal. We sought to assess self-reported PA status and its correlates among teachers in the semi-urban district of Nepal. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among teachers at randomly selected public secondary schools in Bhaktapur, Nepal, from November 2018-April 2019. PA status was assessed in Metabolic Equivalent to task minutes per week using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)–Long Form. Point estimates and odds ratios were calculated at a 95% confidence interval, and a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Among the 360 participants, the mean (SD) age was 40.3 (10.2) years, with 52.5% female participation. A low level of PA was seen among 11.9% (95% CI: 8.4–15.2) of teachers, and more than half (56.0%) of the activity was only moderate intensity. Domestic and garden work was the main contributor (43.0%) of total PA, while leisure time was the least (14.0%). Among the socio-demographic factors, only sex was significantly associated (p = 0.005) with PA. Participants living in locations with walkable areas were 3.4 times (95% CI: 1.6–7.3) more likely to be engaged in moderate-to-high level PA than those without. In our study, the point prevalence of insufficient PA among teachers working at public secondary schools was higher than the national point prevalence. PA promotion programs targeting sedentary populations like school teachers should be developed to reduce the point prevalence of insufficient PA.