[Association between quality of life and physical activity among people aged 50 years and over]

Objective: To explore the relationship between physical activity level and quality of life among people aged 50 years and over. Methods: From October 2009 to June 2010, 8 872 middle-aged and elderly people aged 50 years and over, were selected from five districts of Shanghai, by multi-stage random cluster sampling method. Both Global Physical Activity Questionnaireand World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQoL-8) were used to assess the physical activity, level and quality of life. A two-level (individual level and community level) linear model was used to analyze the relationship between physical activity level and quality of life in different age groups. Results: A total of 8 454 individuals aged (63.16±9.74) years were included in this study. 59.95% of the people in this study were with low physical activity level, while 28.00% and 12.05% of them were with medium or high levels of physical activities. The WHOQoL-8 score appeared as 43.91±0.69. The higher the level of physical activity, the lower the WHOQoL-8 score was, referring to a better quality of life (P=0.00). After controlling the confounding factors of socio-economic factors, health status and social participation, the increase of physical activity level showed significant effect in improving the quality of life for the middle-aged and under 80 elderly (P<0.05). However, compared with the low-level, middle and high-level physical activities did not improve the quality of life among the people aged 80 years and over. The P values were 0.06 and 0.47, respectively. Conclusion: Higher level of physical activity appeared its relations to a better quality of life among people aged between 50 and 80, in Shanghai.