Factors associated with leisure-time physical activity: Analysis of Brazilians with chronic diseases

Abstract

The scope of this study was to analy-ze the prevalence and the factors associated with sufficient leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among Brazilians diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes and/or hypercholesterolemia. It involved a representative, cross-sectional population-ba-sed study for the entire Brazilian territory. Adults aged 20 years and over were interviewed. Preva-lences were estimated and, by means of logistic regression, the crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) of the outcome were calculated in accor-dance with each of the exploratory variables. The prevalence of sufficient LTPA was 15.9%, 15.3% and 21.4% among people with hypertension (n=12,228), diabetes (n=3,577) and hypercho-lesterolemia (n=7,124), respectively. These values were lower than those observed among adults who did not report one of the three diseases. Adjusted analysis showed that individuals with positive sel-f-perception of health and with more schooling, who reported a public space near their homes for physical activity, the existence in the city of public programs that encourage physical activity and the recommendation of health professionals to practice LTPA, were associated with a greater chance of being sufficiently active.