Relationship between physical activity practice in adolescence and adulthood in Brazilian adults

Purpose: To evaluate the association between regular physical activity practice during adolescence and leisure-time physical activity in adulthood.

Methods: Population-based cross-sectional study in a medium-sized southern Brazilian city. A representative sample of households was selected following a multiple-stage protocol; 3100 subjects (= 20 yr) were interviewed. Leisuretime physical activity in adulthood was evaluated using the leisure-time section of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (long version). The time spent in moderate activities (including walking) was summed with twice the time spent in vigorous activities, and individuals with score =150 min•wk-1 were classified as sufficiently active. Data on physical activity practice during adolescence was gathered based on recall; only activities performed for at least six consecutive months were considered. Regular physical education classes in school were not computed.

Results: Approximately 1/4 (26.8%) of all subjects were classified as sufficientlyactive in leisure-time, and half of the individuals (50.1%) reported being involved in regular physical activity during adolescence. Adolescent physical activity increased the likelihood of sufficient physical activity in adulthood both in the crude and adjusted analyses; this effect was stronger in women (adjusted odds ratio: 1.77 - CI95% 1.35; 2.33) than among men (adjusted odds ratio: 1.44 - CI95% 1.10; 1.87). Conclusion: Consistently with previous reports from developed countries, physical activity in adolescence was positively associated with leisure-time activity in adulthood. Therefore, stimulation to physical activity in school age might be a successful intervention against the epidemic of physical inactivity observed in adulthood both in developed and developing countries.

Key Words: exercise, sedentarism, physical inactivity, epidemiology.

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence and correlates of barriers to physical activity in a Brazilian city.

Methods: A representative sample of individuals aged _20 years was selected following a multiple-stage strategy. Physical activity was evaluated using the leisure-time section of the long International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Eight barriers were investigated: feel too old to exercise, have an injury or disease, dislike exercising, being too tired to exercise, lack of money, fear of injuries, lack of company, and lack of time. These barriers were chosen after a review of the most-frequently reported barriers to physical activity in the literature, and analysis of the most-frequently reported barriers in two pilot studies using open questions.

Results: Eighty-five percent of the 3100 individuals interviewed reported at least one barrier. The barrier with the highest prevalence was lack of money (40.3%), followed by feel too tired to exercise (38.1%), lack of company (32.2%), and lack of time (31.5%). Women, the elderly, and those with worse socioeconomic indicators were more likely to perceive most barriers. A strong dose-response relationship between the number of barriers and physical inactivity was observed. After adjustment for potential confounders, dislike exercising, feel too tired to exercise, lack of money, lack of company, and lack of time were significant predictors of physical inactivity.

Conclusion: Although our data arise from a single Brazilian city, they suggest that correlates of physical inactivity between developed and developing countries are different, and therefore, interventions to promote physical activity should use site-specific data. The high rates of the perceived barriers, and the strong association found between them and leisure-time physical activity highlight the need of interventions to help people overcome these barriers.

Keywords: physical inactivity, exercise, physical fitness, epidemiology, health promotion, sedentarism.