Prevalence and sociodemographic patterns of physical activity among Bangladeshi young adults

• Published in: Journal of health, population and nutrition population and nutrition, 2017-07, Vol.36 (1), p.31-31, Article 31
• Main Authors: Uddin, Riaz, Khan, Asaduzzaman, Burton, Nicola W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activity patterns; Adolescent; Adults; Age; Age differences; Bangladesh; Body Mass Index; Chi-square test; Child development; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease; Early adulthood; Educational Status; Equality; Exercise; Family income; Female; Females; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Health status; Humans; Income; Leisure; Lifestyles; Low income groups; Low- and middle-income country; Male; Males; Marital Status; Measurement; Mental depression; Metropolitan areas; Mortality; Participation; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Physiological aspects; Population studies; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Psychosocial factors; Public health; Questionnaires; Recreation; Running; Sex differences; Sex Factors; Short Report; Sociodemographics; Socioeconomic Factors; South Asia; Statistical tests; Teenagers; Time use; Trends; University students; Womens health; Young Adult; Young adults; Youth
• ISSN: 2072-1315; 1606-0997; 2072-1315
• DOI: 10.1186/s41043-017-0108-y

Physical activity offers physical and psychosocial health benefits that are important during young adulthood and later in life. However, little is known about the physical activity of young adults in low- and middle-income countries. The purpose of this study was to estimate the participation of physical activity in Bangladeshi young adults and to assess differences by gender, age and family income. This cross-sectional study with a self-administered survey used a convenience sample of 573 young adults aged 18-24 years from six purposively selected universities in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Data were collected during September-November 2015. Medians and their interquartile ranges of weekly time spent in total physical activity, and in different domains of physical activity, were computed. Non-parametric equality of medians test was used to examine gender differences in the median values. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used to examine gender differences in the prevalence of meeting physical activity recommendations and frequency of participation in different leisure-time physical activities, and differences in meeting the activity recommendations by age and family income. Seventeen percent of the participants were meeting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) recommendations with a significantly higher proportion of males than females (27 vs. 6%, p