Association between quality of life and physical activity among people aged 50 years and over

Objective To explore the relationship between physical activity level and quality of life among people aged 50 years and over. Methods From October 2009 to June 2010, 8 872 middle-aged and elderly people aged 50 years and over, were selected from five districts of Shanghai, by multi-stage random cluster sampling method. Both Global Physical Activity Questionnaireand World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQoL-8) were used to assess the physical activity, level and quality of life. A two-level (individual level and community level) linear model was used to analyze the relationship between physical activity level and quality of life in different age groups. Results A total of 8 454 individuals aged (63.16±9.74) years were included in this study. 59.95% of the people in this study were with low physical activity level, while 28.00% and 12.05% of them were with medium or high levels of physical activities. The WHOQoL-8 score appeared as 43.91±0.69. The higher the level of physical activity, the lower the WHOQoL-8 score was, referring to a better quality of life (P=0.00). After controlling the confounding factors of socio-economic factors, health status and social participation, the increase of physical activity level showed significant effect in improving the quality of life for the middle-aged and under 80 elderly (P<0.05). However, compared with the low-level, middle and high-level physical activities did not improve the quality of life among the people aged 80 years and over. The P values were 0.06 and 0.47, respectively. Conclusion Higher level of physical activity appeared its relations to a better quality of life among people aged between 50 and 80, in Shanghai. Key words: Quality of life; Physical activity