Introduction
The prevalence of leisure-time physical activity has increased in recent decades,
but values differ significantly among countries. Owing to the improvement of living
standards, a higher frequency of leisure-time physical activity is expected in Western
countries such as Spain, but there is a lack of research involving large, representative
samples during a prolonged temporal frame to confirm this tendency.
Methods
Individual representative data from the 1987, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2011, and 2017
rounds of the Spanish National Health Survey were used. Statistical analyses were
conducted from April 9, 2020 to May 5, 2020.
Results
A total of 114,813 participants (aged 43.9 [SD=16.7] years, 51.8% women) were included
in the study. Crude linear trends in regular monthly and weekly leisure-time physical
activity were estimated together using linear regression models across the survey
years, which also served to estimate the regression coefficients (β) and 95% CIs for
every year change. All age groups experienced significantly increased prevalence of
regular leisure-time physical activity—either several times a month or several times
a week—over time (p<0.001 for trend). Participants aged 16–17 years had the highest increase in the annual
prevalence of regular leisure-time physical activity (β=0.8, 95% CI=0.7, 1.0). Additional
adjusted multivariable logistic regression confirmed these trends.
Conclusions
This study shows an increase in regular leisure-time physical activity among the adult
Spanish population during the period from 1987 to 2017. Younger participants consistently
presented higher prevalence levels than older participants.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: March 27, 2021
Identification
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© 2021 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
