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Cross-sectional and prospective relationship between physical activity and chronic diseases in European older adults

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

This study examined the relationship between physical activity (PA) and chronic diseases in European older adults, using a prospective analysis with data from 2011 and 2013.

Methods

Participants were 37,524 older adults (16,204 men) who responded to the fourth (in 2011) and fifth (in 2013) wave of SHARE project, from 13 European countries. Participants’ answers to interview questions about the presence of chronic conditions and PA. The cross-sectional and prospective association between PA and the number of chronic diseases was assessed using general linear models.

Results

Among men and women, moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in 2011 was associated with fewer reported chronic diseases in 2011 and 2013. In prospective analysis, MVPA in 2011 was inversely associated with the number of chronic diseases in 2013 in the unadjusted model. In the adjusted model MVPA more than once a week remained as a significant predictor of fewer chronic diseases.

Conclusions

PA should be prescribed to older adults in order to prevent and reduce the number of chronic diseases, and, when possible, vigorous intensity PA should be recommended.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudo da Performance Humana, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Adilson Marques

  2. Centro de Investigação em Saúde Pública, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Adilson Marques

  3. Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Miguel Peralta & Margarida Gaspar de Matos

  4. Laboratório de Pedagogia, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana e UIDEF, Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    João Martins

  5. William James Center for Research, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal

    Margarida Gaspar de Matos

  6. George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, USA

    Ross C. Brownson

Authors
  1. Adilson Marques
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  2. Miguel Peralta
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  3. João Martins
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  4. Margarida Gaspar de Matos
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  5. Ross C. Brownson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João Martins.

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Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Marques, A., Peralta, M., Martins, J. et al. Cross-sectional and prospective relationship between physical activity and chronic diseases in European older adults. Int J Public Health 62, 495–502 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0919-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0919-4

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