Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Mar;8(2):A36.
Epub 2011 Feb 15.

Health-related quality of life and the physical activity levels of middle-aged women, California Health Interview Survey, 2005

Cecily Luncheon  1 , Matthew Zack
Affiliations

Health-related quality of life and the physical activity levels of middle-aged women, California Health Interview Survey, 2005

Cecily Luncheon et al. Prev Chronic Dis. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Several studies suggest that physical activity may improve health-related quality of life. Other studies have shown that participation in physical activity differs among women of different racial/ethnic groups. This study aimed to determine whether the association between physical activity and health-related quality of life differs among women aged 40 to 64 years from different racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: We explored the association between physical activity level and health-related quality of life with descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses adjusting for potential confounders among 11,887 women aged 40 to 64 years who identified themselves as Latinas, Asians, African Americans, or whites in the 2005 California Health Interview Survey.

Results: Although white women reported more regular physical activity than women of other racial/ethnic groups, Asian women reported fewer mentally and overall unhealthy days than women of other groups. Nonetheless, as physical activity increased, health-related quality of life improved only among white women (fewer physically unhealthy, mentally unhealthy, recent activity limitation, and overall unhealthy days) and among Latinas (fewer overall unhealthy days).

Conclusion: Future studies should try to confirm if and clarify why the association between physical activity level and health-related quality of life differs among these middle-aged women of different races/ethnicities. If confirmed, this association would imply that health care professionals and those who design public health interventions may need to vary their promotion methods and messages to encourage physical activity among women of different races/ethnicities.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. 2008 Physical activity guidelines for Americans. US Department of Health and Human Services. 2009. [Accessed October 15, 2009]. http://health.gov/paguidelines/pdf/paguide.pdf .
    1. Healthy people 2010 (conference edition, in 2 volumes) Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2000. [Accessed October 19, 2010]. Objectives 22-2 (moderate physical activity) and 22-3 (vigorous physical activity) http://www.healthypeople.gov/Document/HTML/Volume2/22Physical.htm .
    1. Lees E, Taylor WC, Hepworth JT, Feliz K, Cassells A, Tobin JN. Environmental changes to increase physical activity: perceptions of older urban ethnic-minority women. J Aging Phys Act. 2007;15(4):425–438. - PubMed
    1. Eyler AA, Brownson RC, Donatelle RJ, King AC, Brown D, Sallis JF. Physical activity social support and middle- and older-aged minority women: results from a US survey. Soc Sci Med. 1999;49(6):781–789. - PubMed
    1. Koltyn KF. The association between physical activity and quality of life in older women. Womens Health Issues. 2001;11(6):471–480. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources