A Cross-Sectional Examination of Physical Activity Levels and Their Socio-Demographic Determinants in Southern Tanzania

Beverly Msambichaka, Ramadhani Abdul, Salim Abdulla, Paul Klatser, Marcel Tanner, Ramaiya Kaushik, Bettina Bringolf-Isler, Eveline Geubbels and Ikenna C. Eze
Additional contact information
Beverly Msambichaka: Ifakara Health Institute, Kiko Avenue, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 78373, Tanzania
Ramadhani Abdul: Ifakara Health Institute, Kiko Avenue, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 78373, Tanzania
Salim Abdulla: Ifakara Health Institute, Kiko Avenue, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 78373, Tanzania
Paul Klatser: Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit/Free University, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Marcel Tanner: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
Ramaiya Kaushik: Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital, Chusi St, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 581, Tanzania
Bettina Bringolf-Isler: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
Eveline Geubbels: Ifakara Health Institute, Kiko Avenue, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 78373, Tanzania
Ikenna C. Eze: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Physical activity is essential for healthy aging. Evidence suggests that vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) may be more beneficial than moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA). We examined physical activity levels (MPA, VPA and total physical activity), and their socio-demographic determinants in 2311 participants (15–93 years; 68% women) of the MZIMA Open Community Cohort, who had complete relevant data. Physical activity levels were estimated in minutes per week across three domains—work, leisure and transport. We created three outcome variables: low MPA (<150 min per week of MPA), low VPA (<75 min per week of VPA) and insufficient physical activity (IPA: <150 min per week of total physical activity) and applied sample-weighted multivariable logistic regression to assess associations with potential socio-demographic determinants. Prevalence of IPA, low MPA and low VPA were 25%, 26% and 65% respectively. IPA and low MPA were correlated (Spearman R = 0.98; p < 0.001). Work, leisure and transport contributed 54%, 25% and 21% to total physical activity respectively. IPA and low VPA were significantly associated with female sex, lower education, non-manual occupation and frequent fruit consumption. We observed significant differences by sex ( P heterogeneity < 0.001), on the associations between education and IPA, and between age, occupation and low VPA. In conclusion, low levels of VPA, which were more pronounced in women, support the monitoring and promotion of VPA alongside overall physical activity. Leisure-related activities should also be promoted towards gains in vigorous-intensity and total physical activity in this setting.

Keywords: physical activity; vigorous physical activity; determinants; leisure; Tanzania; cross-sectional study; adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1054/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1054/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:6:p:1054-:d:148518

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().