Eating habits and physical activity in older adults with chronic disease

Abstract

Objective: To determine the factors related to eating habits and physical activity in older adults with chronic disease. Material and Method: Cross-sectional correlational study, carried out with 200 older adults from Matamoros, Tamaulipas State, Mexico. The field work was conducted in the first semester of 2019 and eating habits as well as physical activity were measured using an ex profeso questionnaire. Different measures were used: central tendency and dispersion for continuous variables; frequencies and percentages for qualitative variables; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test with Lilliefors correction to determine distribution of numerical variables; Spearman’s correlation coefficients for relationships among sociodemographic variables, chronic disease, eating habits and physical activity. The study was approved by the ethics and research committees FAEN-D-912. Results: The consumption of soft drinks (p= .039), legumes (p= .001) and fish (p= .005) were related to schooling; water intake (p= .007), legumes (p< 001) and schooling (p< .001) were related to age; walking per week (p< .001) and walking minutes (p< .001) were related to water consumption. Conclusions: Diet and physical activity in older adults are important for the prevention and control of chronic diseases and other diseases. The results of this study reflect the urgency of early intervention to emphasize balanced eating habits and the regular practice of health-related physical activity.