Quality of Life and Physical Activity in Bogota: Does the Domain Matter?

BACKGROUND: The majority of the studies that establish the association between physical activity (PA) and health related quality of life (HQOL) have been carried out in developed countries and have not sufficiently explored specific domains of PA OBJETIVE: To examine the association between HQOL and PA levels in different domains (bicycling and walking for transportation, occupational, domestic and leisure time). METHODS: Data from a cross sectional multilevel study that included 1129 adults aged 18-65 years who had resided for a minimum of 12 months in their neighborhoods. Thirty neighborhoods were randomly selected and stratified. PA levels in different domains were measured using an adapted version of IPAQ (long version). HQOL was measured using a modified version of the WHOQOL-BREF. Linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between PA in each domain and HROL scores. RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders (age, gender and education level), only the domains of leisure time physical activity (irregular active â 2.41 p=0.001, and meeting recommendations â 4.85 p=0.001), and bicycling for transportation (â 3.74 p=0.001) were positively associated with HQOL. No significant associations were found between occupational and domestic PA domains and HROL. CONCLUSSION: To our knowledge this is the first study to establish the association between quality of life and physical activity levels in specific domains, in the Latin American context. Despite the exploratory design of this study, these findings could guide the design of policies and promotion strategies that may result in both increased levels of PA and HQOL.