Physical activity and sedentary behavior as multimorbidity discriminators among elderly Brazilians: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Associations between behaviors and individual chronic diseases have been demonstrated. However, the relationship between time spent on sedentary behavior and multimorbidity remains less clear. OBJECTIVE: To identify the predictive power of various intensities of physical activity versus sedentary behavior, as discriminatory factors for cardiometabolic multimorbidity (cardiovascular diseases and diabetes) in the elderly. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study in different residential census tracts and residential households in Florianópolis (SC). METHODS: The participants were 425 elderly people (65% women) from the EpiFloripa Aging study in 2014. Sociodemographic variables and self-reported incidence of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes were obtained via a questionnaire. Light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) were measured using accelerometers. The analyses were stratified according to sex and included a diagnosis for interpretation. Behaviors were taken into consideration if their predictive power in terms of area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was greater than 0.50. The time cutoff point was defined from sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: For older adult men with diabetes, the predictive value of MVPA for absence of multimorbidity was an area of 0.75 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.538-0.962), and a cutoff of 17 minutes per day. Older adult women with diabetes had an area of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.524-0.866) and a cutoff of 10 minutes per day. LPA and SB did not present predictive values. CONCLUSION: The time spent on MVPA is a predictor of absence of multimorbidity in elderly people with diabetes, for both sexes.

Prevalence and factors associated with dynapenia in elderly women in primary health care

“…No presente estudo, verificou-se que 52% das mulheres idosas eram sedentárias ou irregularmente ativas. O estilo de vida insuficientemente ativo está diretamente relacionado ao aumento da massa gorda e determinantes no processo de diminuição da força, presença de sarcopenia e incapacidade física (Christofoletti et al, 2021;Nascimento et al, 2021).…”

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Lifestyle Evaluation Instrument for Older Adults

“…However, some items related to physical activity and mobility remained in the final version of OALS (items 14 to 19Although we believe that prolonged screen time can impact the health of older adults, this factor did not emerge as a strong factor in this sample of Brazilian older adults. It is worth noting that excessive screen use would likely be reflected in other aspects of lifestyle, such as the Quality of Relationships factor and daily life tasks discussed in item 11, since sedentary behavior is associated with low functionality in older adults (Christofoletti et al, 2021). However, considering that sedentary behavior is very complex assess so specifically on a scale assessing general lifestyle considerations, more effective methods for assessing screen time and sedentary time should be developed.…”

Factors associated with impaired functional performance in elderly women in primary health care

“…Os principais fatores de risco associados as DCNTs, são geralmente influenciados pelo estilo de vida, destacando-se a inatividade física, um dos principais fatores de risco modificáveis (Meller et al, 2022). Comportamentos sedentários representam um papel importante no declínio na força e função muscular, assim como para diminuição da capacidade funcional e perda da independência, especialmente durante o envelhecimento (Christofoletti et al, 2021;Izquierdo et al, 2021).…”