Physical Activity and Self-Perceived Health Status

• Published in: International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health 2006, Vol.19 (1), p.61-69
• Main Authors: Kaleta, Dorota, Makowiec-Dąbrowska, Teresa, Dziankowska-Zaborszczyk, Elżbieta, Jegier, Anna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Exercise; Female; Females; Health Status; Housework physical activity; Humans; Leisure Activities; Leisure-time physical activity; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational physical activity; Poland; Regression analysis; Self-perceived heath status; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1232-1087; 1896-494X
• DOI: 10.2478/v10001-006-0005-x

Objectives: Recently more attention has been focused on the impact of physical activity on modification of self-perceived heath status in adults. The objective of the study was to evaluate the level of occupational and non-occupational physical activities and their correlation with self-perceived heath status among economically productive individuals. Materials and Methods: Physical activity of the subjects studied was evaluated by the Seven Day Physical Activity Recall (SDPAR) questionnaire among randomly chosen residents of the city of Łódź (n = 598, including 299 women and 299 men). The examination of the subjective health assessment was conducted based on the analogue visual scale. Results: The multifactorial logistic regression analysis indicated that weekly energy expenditure on occupational physical activity (kcal/week) did not play a significant role in self-perception of health status among men or women. Neither did the outcome of the study provide evidence for the significant effect of housework load on self-perceived health status among the study participants. However, a sufficient level of leisure-time physical activity in a beneficial way affects health-related self-perception of the examined subjects. In the group of men expending 1000 kcal/week or more on leisure-time physical activity, the risk for poor health-related self-report was significantly lower than among men declaring no energy expenditure on this activity (adjusted odds ratio (OR = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.13-0.66). Among females not taking up any recreational physical activity, the risk of low self-perceived health status was also higher than in females reaching a satisfactory level of recreational physical activity (adjusted OR = 0.38,95%CI: 0.17-0.87). Conclusions: Preventive programs aimed at improving subjective health assessment through the increased leisure-time physical activity should be addressed to all economically productive individuals and particularly to people of older age groups and above all to females.