Sitting time and associated factors among Portuguese older adults: results from Nutrition UP 65

Ana Sofia Sousa, Joana Mendes (), Rita S. Guerra, Patrícia Padrão, Pedro Moreira, Alejandro Santos, Nuno Borges, Cláudia Afonso, Cátia Martins, Graça Ferro and Teresa F. Amaral
Additional contact information
Ana Sofia Sousa: University of Porto
Joana Mendes: University of Porto
Rita S. Guerra: University of Porto
Patrícia Padrão: University of Porto
Pedro Moreira: University of Porto
Alejandro Santos: University of Porto
Nuno Borges: University of Porto
Cláudia Afonso: University of Porto
Cátia Martins: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Graça Ferro: EPE
Teresa F. Amaral: University of Porto

European Journal of Ageing, 2020, vol. 17, issue 3, No 7, 330 pages

Abstract: Abstract Older adults are particularly susceptible to sedentary behaviours. Sitting time has been increasingly referred to as a potentially modifiable risk factor in the prevention of chronic diseases. Identifying factors associated with sitting time, particularly those that are modifiable, will allow for more effective public health strategies. This study aimed to describe sitting time among Portuguese older adults and to evaluate associated factors. A cross-sectional study including 1423 older adults ≥ 65 years old was conducted. Sitting time was assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Socio-demographic, health, anthropometric and functional variables were collected. Bivariate and multivariate linear regression models were conducted to study the association between these variables and sitting time. The median of sitting time was 300 min/day (interquartile range = 240 min/day), which is equal to 5 h/day. The following factors were directly associated with longer sitting time: being male, age ≥ 80 years, living in Central or Southern Portugal, being retired from work, as well as presenting low physical activity, obesity or longer time to walk 4.6 metres. On the other hand, being married, having higher education and higher household income were inversely associated with longer sitting time. It can be concluded that Portuguese older adults spend a considerable amount of time sitting per day. Potentially modifiable risk factors associated with longer sitting time in this population were related to nutritional status and functional ability.

Keywords: Healthy lifestyle; Older adults; Sedentary behaviour; Time to walk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-019-00532-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:eujoag:v:17:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10433-019-00532-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... iences/journal/10433

DOI: 10.1007/s10433-019-00532-y

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Ageing is currently edited by Marja Aartsen, Susanne Iwarsson and Prof. Dr. Matthias Kliegel

More articles in European Journal of Ageing from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().