Prevalence, social and health correlates of physical inactivity among community-dwelling older adults in Indonesia

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the prevalence, social and health correlates of physical inactivity in a national sample of older Indonesians who participated in the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS-5) in 2014-15. A national community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 6705 older adults aged 50 years or older Indonesians. Measures included information on sociodemographic, health, physical activity, anthropometric and blood pressure. Results indicate that 44.2% were physical inactive, 27.7% engaged in moderate and 28.1% in high physical activity. In adjusted logistic regression analysis, those with older age (Odds Ratio=OR: 1.79; Confidence Interval=CI: 1.25, 2.55), being female (OR: 0.76, CI: 0.60, 0.96), having high school or higher education (OR: 1.33, CI: 1.14, 1.55), and living in urban areas (OR: 1.23, CI: 1.02, 1.49) were more likely to be physically inactive than their counterparts. Participants who were overweight or obese (OR: 1.23, CI: 1.08, 1.40), had weak grip strength (OR: 1.16, CI: 1.05, 1.29), high functional disability (OR: 1.22, CI: 1.09, 1.36), high infrequent fruit and vegetable consumption (OR: 1.19, CI: 1.07, 1.31), and having quit tobacco use (OR: 1.22, CI: 1.05, 1.42) had a higher odds of physical inactivity. Individuals who had high social capital (OR: 0.69, CI: 0.60, 0.79) were less likely to be physically inactive than those with low social capital. Several sociodemographic (older age, female, higher education and urban residence) and health risk (such as overweight, weak grip strength, functional disability, and low fruit and vegetable consumption) factors for physical inactivity were identified, which may help in designing physical activity health promotion programmes in this older adult population.

Keywords: Physical inactivity, correlates, older adults, Indonesia