Do associations of gender, age, and education with transport and leisure-time physical activity differ across countries? Findings from the IPEN Adult Study

Abstract

PURPOSE: Although associations of age, educational attainment and gender with physical activity (PA) outcomes have been found to be fairly consistent, the vast majority of studies has not examined theses associations with leisure and transport PA across different countries. This study examined associations of leisure and transportation PA with socio-demographic characteristics in multiple countries and whether these differ by country. METHODS: The IPEN adult study is an observational multi-country cross-sectional study. The current analysis included data of 17 cities in 12 countries (N=13,250 adults). The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-long) was used to assess participants’ self-reported PA. This study had four binary (no vs. yes) and two continuous PA outcomes (non-zero weekly minutes of transport and leisure-time PA). Generalized additive mixed models were used to assess associations. RESULTS: Age was significantly associated with all PA outcomes with the exception of engaging in ≥150 min/wk of transport PA. The shape of the associations varied through the outcomes and was non-linear for the odds of engaging in ≥10 and ≥150 min/wk of leisure-time PA and non-zero weekly minutes of leisure time PA. Overall, educational attainment was positively related to the odds of engaging in ≥10 and ≥150 min/wk of leisure-time PA but unrelated to non-zero weekly minutes of the same type of activity; and negatively related to non-zero weekly minutes of transport PA. Gender showed a significant association with all PA outcomes with the exception of engagement in ≥10 min/wk of transport PA. City moderated the associations of age with four out of six PA outcomes; and of educational attainment with non-zero minutes of leisure-time PA only. Additionally, city moderated the associations of gender with three PA outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Linear and non-linear associations of age, gender and education with leisure and transportation PA were found. Overall, the associations were somewhat inconsistent across PA outcomes and study sites. International studies are needed to further understand the patterns of PA across different cultures and societies. Future studies should focus on the role of site specific characteristics in explaining variations in adults’ PA levels.