Association between different types of physical activities and quality of life in women aged 60 years or over

Objective: To evaluate the association between different types of physical activity and quality of life in a sample of women aged 60 or over. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out, interviewing 271 women. Of these, 141 were recruited in a menopause outpatient clinic and 130 were recruited in a social leisure center, in Brazil. The instruments used were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) version 8 and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire specific for this age group (WHOQOL-OLD). Each IPAQ section was evaluated by multiple linear regression analysis, considering independent and confounding variables. The significance level was set at 5% and the software used was SAS version 9.1.3. Results: The mean age of the patients was 67.4 +/- 5.3 years. The mean time devoted to physical activity was 2802.7 +/- 1154.9 minutes per week. The total WHOQOL-OLD score was 66.9 +/- 11.7. The past, present and future actvities (estimated beta = 0.021) and, social participation (estimated beta = 0.03) domains had association with IPAQ transportation section. The leisure-time domain of the IPAQ had an inverse and significant relationship with the quality of life score related to present, past and future activities (estimated beta = -0.0269). Conclusion: Quality of life was negatively influenced by leisure, but time spent in this physical activity was the shortest in comparison to other types of physical activities. In this sample, only physical activity for transportation was positively associated with a better quality of life.