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. 2023 Dec 19:11:1296821.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1296821. eCollection 2023.

Is education level, as a proxy for socio-economic position, related to device-measured and self-reported sedentary behavior in European older adults? A cross-sectional study from the SITLESS project

Beatriz Rodriguez Roca  1 , Mark A Tully  2 , Oriol Sansano-Nadal  3   4 , Paolo Caserotti  5 , Laura Coll-Planas  6 , Marta Roqué  7 , Jan Brønd  5 , Nicole E Blackburn  8 , Jason J Wilson  9 , Dietrich Rothenbacher  10 , Emma McIntosh  11 , Manuela Deidda  11 , Elena Andrade-Gómez  12 , Maria Giné-Garriga  3   13
Affiliations

Is education level, as a proxy for socio-economic position, related to device-measured and self-reported sedentary behavior in European older adults? A cross-sectional study from the SITLESS project

Beatriz Rodriguez Roca et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Sedentary behavior (SB) is a determinant of health in older adult people. Educational level is a primary driver of health disparities and is demonstrated to be a reliable measure of socioeconomic position. We aimed to examine the associations between educational level and self-reported along with device-measured SB in older adults living in Europe and the association of mentally active and passive SB domains with the educational level and gender in these associations.

Methods: The design is cross-sectional. One thousand three hundred and sixty participants aged 65 and over (75.3±6.3 years old, 61.8% women) participated. Inclusion criteria were scored with the Short Physical Performance Battery. Variables that describe the sample were assessed with an interview, and device-measured SB was assessed with an accelerometer. SB was assessed with the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire and an accelerometer. Multiple linear regression models were used to study the association between the level of education and SB.

Results: Participants self-reported an average of 7.82 (SD: 3.02) daily waking hours of SB during weekend days, and the average of device-measured SB was 11.39 (1.23) h. Total mentally active SB (weekdays and weekends) was associated with the education level (p < 0.000). Participants were more sedentary during the week than during weekends, regardless of level of education (p < 0.000). Education level was significantly associated with self-reported mean hours per day in 46SB (p = 0.000; R=0.026; 95%CI).

Conclusion: Low education level in older adults is associated with self-reported SB but not with objective SB measures.

Keywords: accelerometer; education level; mentally active sedentary behavior; mentally passive sedentary behavior; mentally passive sedentary behavior older adult; older adults; sedentary; sedentary behavior.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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