The level of physical activity in elderly persons with overweight and obesity

An important factor in maintaining elderly people in good health is an appropriate level of physical activity. The research into physical activity level of the elderly is quite crucial as the low level of such activity may lead to disability and that, in turn, generates the need of additional care which constitutes a serious social problem. As the existing data seem to lack a lot, new research would enrich our knowledge in new conclusions.

The aim of the study is to analyze and estimate the physical activity of the elderly persons with overweight or obesity elderly.

The research group consisted of 360 overweight and obese elderly people. The criteria of inclusion into a research group were living in family homes, overweight (BMI=25.0-29.9 kg/m2) or obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2), no contraindications to physical activity, age between 60 and 74 and written consent for the participation of the experiment. The control group consisted of 360 people without overweight and obesity. The inclusion criteria included age 60-74 BMI<25.0 kg/m2 and living at family home. The data was gathered with the use of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ).

The average age in the test group was 67,03±4,264 and in control group 66,59±4,050. The research has shown that the level of physical activity of overweight and obese senior citizens was lower than in people with correct body mass. Frequency of high intensity of physical activity undertaken by seniors in the test group was 0.7 day per week and lasted 16.1 minutes a day ( in the control group 2.5 days per day and 32.8 minutes per day, respectively). The IPAQ examination has shown that 95.8% of the test group participants had insufficient level of professional activity, 99.7% in transport-related physical activity, 86.1% in household chores and 99.4% in free time physical activity.

The level of physical activity of the elderly in the test group was very low, much lower than in people of the same age but with correct body mass. The lowest level of physical activity was noted in transport-related physical activity and leisure time physical activity.