Correlates of sedentary behavior in older adults living in the UK

Purpose: To exam the correlates of sedentary behavior in UK adults aged 65 and above.

Methods: Data were baseline assessments from a longitudinal study. Physical activity (PA) was assessed by ActiGraph GT3X for 7 days. The potential correlates such as demographics, physical health and mental health are assessed by questionnaires.

Results: A total sample size N=61 with mean age 72.07y. All were white European and 57% were female. 72% were married and 34% lived alone. 46% considered themselves in good health and 70% had one or more chronic disease. The average sedentary behavior (SB) time was 610min/d. There was no significant difference of SB, LPA and MVPA time between the demographics, physical health or mental health factors. SB time was significantly negatively correlated to MVPA (r=- 0.33, P=0.01) and positively correlated to the number of adults the participant lived with (r=0.32, P=0.02). There was a significant difference in SB between unmarried (838min/d) and married (550min/d) (t=3.94, p=0.001) males, but not in females.

Conclusions: This study shows that MVPA and marital status are correlated with the SB of a sample of generally healthy older adults. Males who were not married spent significantly more time engaged in SB than those who were married. But marital status does not make a difference for females. These findings may reflect an important life stage for males. More research is needed into non socio-demographic correlates of sedentary behavior.