Recreational Physical Activity in Postmenopausal Women Is Stable Over 8 Years of Follow-Up
in Journal of Physical Activity and HealthClick name to view affiliation
Background:
The goals of this study were to examine 1) longitudinal trajectories of energy expenditure from recreational physical activity (PA) in postmenopausal women, 2) whether women who belong to different PA trajectories engage in different types of PA, and 3) whether baseline sociodemographic, health, psychosocial, and lifestyle characteristics predict membership in PA trajectories.
Methods:
Women from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study with baseline PA data (n = 92,629) were included. Physical activity, measured via self-report 6 times over 8 years, was converted to MET hr/wk for analysis. Latent growth curve mixture models and latent profile models were used to analyze longitudinal PA trajectories and cross-sectional PA composition, respectively.
Results:
Three distinct, stable PA trajectories (highly, moderately, and minimally active) were identified with nearly 75% of the women classified as minimally active (≤ 8 MET-hr/wk). The majority of women who were at least moderately active engaged in a balanced combination of walking, moderate, and vigorous PA. Sociodemographic characteristics such as income, education, and past vigorous PA were predictive of PA trajectory, as were some health status indicators (eg, body mass index), but not health related quality of life.
Conclusions:
Self-reported PA is largely stable across nearly a decade of follow-up in postmenopausal women.
Nguyen is with the Dept of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena, CA. Herting and Kohen are with the Dept of Psychosocial and Community Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Perry is with the Dept of Family and Child Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. LaCroix is with the WHI Clinical Coordinating Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Adams-Campbell is with the Adams-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. Beresford is with the Dept of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Eaton is with the Dept of Family Medicine and Community Health, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI. Tinker is with the Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA.
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