The Mediating Role of Physical Activity and Physical Function in the Association between Body Mass Index and Health-Related Quality of Life: A Population-Based Study with Older Adults

Marcelo de Maio Nascimento (), Élvio Rúbio Gouveia, Bruna R. Gouveia, Adilson Marques, Pedro Campos, Jesús García-Mayor, Krzysztof Przednowek and Andreas Ihle
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Marcelo de Maio Nascimento: Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Vale do São Francisco, Petrolina 56304-917, PE, Brazil
Élvio Rúbio Gouveia: Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
Bruna R. Gouveia: LARSYS—Laboratory for Robotics and Engineering System, Interactive Technologies Institute, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
Adilson Marques: CIPER, Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Human Performance, Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1499-002 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal
Pedro Campos: Department of Informatics Engineering and Interactive Media Design, University of Madeira, 9000-072 Funchal, Portugal
Jesús García-Mayor: Public Health and Epidemiology Research Group, San Javier Campus, University of Murcia, 30720 San Javier, Spain
Krzysztof Przednowek: Institute of Physical Culture Sciences, Medical College, University of Rzeszów, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland
Andreas Ihle: Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: This study aimed (1) to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI), physical activity (PA), and physical function (PF) with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and (2) to examine in-depth whether PA and PF mediate the relationship between BMI and HRQoL in older adults. We investigated 802 individuals (mean age 69.8 ± 5.6 years), residents of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal. Harmol and PA were assessed using the SF-36 and Baecke questionnaires, respectively, and PF by the Senior Fitness Test. The prevalence of overweight was 71.3%, 26.5% for normal weight, and 2.1% for underweight. We verified a small correlation between age and sex with BMI, PA, PF, and medium borderline with HRQoL. After adjusting for covariates (i.e., sex, age, comorbidities), the multivariate regression analysis indicated a 93.1% chance of improvement in HRQoL for low BMI, while PA and PF revealed a chance of increasing HRQoL by 91.8% and 60.0%, respectively. According to the serial mediation pathway, PA and PF partially mediated the association between BMI and HRQoL by 32.3% and 81.5%, respectively. The total variance of the model was 90%. It was concluded that BMI can negatively affect HRQoL. On the other hand, PA and PF are able to increase HRQoL levels during the aging process.

Keywords: obesity; body mass index; quality of life; physical activity; physical function; aging; vulnerability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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