The impact of 10-year physical activity changes on 7-year mortality in older Mexican Americans

Zakkoyya H. Lewis, Kyriakos S. Markides, Kenneth J. Ottenbacher, Soham Ai Snih

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: We investigated the association between 10 years of change in physical activity (PA) levels and 7-year all-cause mortality. Methods: Mexican American adults aged 67 and older (N = 803) participating in the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (1995/1996-2012/2013) were included. All-cause mortality was our outcome. Participants were divided into 4 groups based on their difference in overall PA between 1995/1996 and 2005/2006 measured by the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly. Participants were classified as having unchanged low PA (n = 339), decreased activity (n = 233), unchanged high activity (n = 166), and increased activity (n = 65). Change in the frequency of PA domains was also investigated. PA domains included leisure, household, sedentary, and walking activities. Results: After controlling for all covariates, results from the Cox proportional hazards regression found a 43% lower mortality risk in the increased PA group (hazards ratio = 0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.34-0.97) compared with the unchanged low PA group. In the entire sample, a significantly lower mortality risk was also present among walking (hazards ratio = 0.88) and household (hazards ratio = 0.88) activities. Conclusion: Our results suggest that, independent of other factors, increasing PA is most protective of mortality among older Mexican Americans.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)30-39
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Physical Activity and Health
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Epidemiology
  • Older adults

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Epidemiology
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

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