Survey of Physical Activity and Factors Affecting it in the Elderly Health Centers of Qazvin, 2017

In old age, physical activity decreases and its reduction is a risk factor for many illnesses associated with unhealthy lifestyle. Hence, physical activity is an important part of the elderly health program.The aim of this study was to determine the physical activity and its effective factors in the elderly in Qazvin.

This descriptive-analytic study was a cross-sectional study. A total of 196 elderly people were enrolled using randomized cluster sampling from nursing homes in Qazvin. The research instrument was demographic information questionnaire and Rapid Physical Activity Measurement Questionnaire (RAPA). The data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by SPSS.24 software.

The mean age of the elderly in this study was 72± 8 and 25.5% of them had non-active life, and only 10.2% of the elderly had the proper activity. In this study, between education (p <0.05), previous habit of physical activity (p <0.05), current employment status (p <0.05) and Motivation (p <0.05) with physical activity A statistically significant relationship was observed.

Given the low level of education, employment status, motivation and habit of physical activity on the level of physical activity of the elderly, it is observed that the level of physical activity of the elderly in Qazvin urban population is low and inappropriate. Therefore, it is necessary to plan accordingly the factors affecting the physical activity of the elderly in order to promote it.