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Updated: Sep 30, 2025
Using a Real-Time Locating System to Measure Walking Activity Associated with Wandering Behaviors Among Institutionalized Older Adults
Published on: February 8, 2019
Association between low level of physical activity and mobility limitation in older adults: evidence from the SABE
Igor Conterato Gomes1, Leônidas de Oliveira Neto2, Vagner Deuel de Oliveira Tavares3
1Departamento de Epidemiologia, Escola de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo. Av. Dr. Arnaldo 715, Cerqueira César. 01246-904 São Paulo SP Brasil. deueltavares@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Several studies are limited by verifying the level of physical activity with questionnaires and not through objective measurement in older adults. This article aims to analyze the association between a low level of physical activity with accelerometry) and mobility limitation in older adults. A population-based cross-sectional study conducted with 543 older adults. Multiple regression analysis was performed using hierarchical analysis, grouping the variables into two blocks ordered according to the precedence with which they acted on the outcomes. Among the evaluated older adults, 13.7% presented mobility limitations and among these 60.39% were in the low level of physical activity group. Older adults with a low level of physical activity (OR = 3.49 [2.0 - 6.13]), aged 75 and over (OR = 1.97 [1.03 - 3.72]), living without a partner (OR = 2.01 [1.09 - 3.68]), having difficulty performing basic (OR = 2.49 [1.45 - 4.28]) and instrumental (OR = 2.28) [1.18 - 4.36]) activities of daily life, and multimorbidity (OR = 2.06 [1.04 - 4.08]) were independently associated with mobility limitation. A low level of physical activity increases the chance of mobility limitation in older adults, regardless of sociodemographic and clinical variables.
