Relationship between physical activity, sedentarism and obesity in adults, Colombia, 2015

Introduction. Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors were shown to be risk factors in the prevalence of diseases such as obesity. Objective. To conduct an analysis of the relationship between physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and nutritional status in the population aged 18 to 64 years in Colombia, 2015. Materials and methods. Secondary analysis of the 2015 Colombian nutrition survey, using sociodemographic variables (age, sex, ethnicity, geographic area, region, wealth index), in addition, weight, height, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle. Proportions and 95% confidence intervals, Chi-square, logistic regression, Odds Ratio were estimated. Results. Population analyzed 16607 (54.8% women and 45.2% men aged 18 to 64 years). Men were more overweight (37.6%) than women, while obesity was higher in women (22.1%). About 48.3% did not meet the physical activity recommendation; 56.9% of adults spent 2 or more hours a day watching screens. Significant association (p<0.050) between non-compliance with physical activity recommendations and obesity. In addition, complying with the physical activity recommendation decreases the probability of obesity by 1.25 times. Conclusion. Obesity is a health problem for the adult population, with a higher prevalence in women and in those over 30 years old, which is related to noncompliance with the recommendation of physical activity and sedentary behaviors, which are more prevalent in Afro-descendants, high wealth quartile, people living in urban areas and in the Bogota region.