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  • Physical activity during leisure time and quality of life in a Spanish cohort: SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) Project

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Physical activity during leisure time and quality of life in a Spanish cohort: SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) Project
  1. Almudena Sanchez-Villegas1,2,
  2. Ignacio Ara3,
  3. Trinidad Dierssen4,
  4. Carmen de la Fuente2,
  5. Cristina Ruano1,
  6. Miguel A Martínez-González2
  1. 1Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
  2. 2Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
  3. 3GENUD Toledo Research Group, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain
  4. 4Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain
  1. Correspondence to Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, Centre for Health Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, PO Box 550, CP 35080, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain; asanchez{at}dcc.ulpgc.es

Abstract

Background Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) has been associated with better mental and physical health particularly in cross-sectional studies.

Purpose To longitudinally assess the association between LTPA, changes in LTPA and health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Methods Cross-sectional and prospective analysis of the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra Project, a dynamic cohort study. Information is gathered through mailed questionnaires biannually since 1999. A validated LTPA questionnaire was used to assess LTPA level at baseline. Changes in LTPA were ascertained at 2 and 4 years of follow-up. HRQL was assessed at 4 and 8 years of follow-up with a validated Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey. Multivariate regression coefficients, means and their 95% CIs for each of the eight domains of the SF-36 according to quintiles of baseline LTPA and changes in LTPA over time were calculated using generalised linear models.

Results At 4 years of follow-up, mean scores for upper quintiles of LTPA (second to highest quintile) of physical functioning, general health, vitality, social functioning and mental health were significantly higher than the mean score obtained for participants with the lowest level of LTPA (first quintile). In general, and independent of previous scores in SF-36 survey, the maintenance or the increase in LTPA levels during follow-up was associated with better scores in HRQL after 8 years of follow-up, especially for mental domains.

Conclusion These findings provide support for an association between LTPA, long-term changes in LTPA and several aspects of HRQL (especially in relation to mental domains) extending previous cross-sectional findings.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2010.081836

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    Footnotes

    • Funding The Spanish Government Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias, projects PI042241, PI040233, PI050976, PI070240, PI0801943 and RD 06/0045 and the Navarra Regional Government project PI41/2005 have supported the SUN Project.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.