PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS OF ADULTS IN TWO COUNTIES OF HUNGARY IN VIEW OF SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC INEQUALITIES

Background. Decreased physical activity (PA), sedentary lifestyle and inappropriate dietary habits have been observed in modern societies in the past decades.

Material and methods Data were collected in summer, 2014. The representative (by age & gender) sample consisted of 910 adults. The research (entitled “E-Harmónia”) was carried out in two Hungarian counties, Baranya and Zala. We developed a tablet-based survey to examine PA using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) questionnaire and collected anthropometric data with body composition monitors. Data analysis was carried out with SPSS 22.0 for Windows. The significance level was set at p<0.05.

Results. The sample size of adult participants was 910, their mean age was 43.2±14.4 years. We examined the level of physical activity in view of sociodemographic inequalities, like gender, age, education, marital status, employment form. Women and aged and young people were found to do carry out significantly less leisure time PA (p<0.05). Furthermore, we found significant relationship in PA and education level, age and employment form of the adults (p<0.001).

Conclusions. In the present study according to the IPAQ questionnaires results we found significant differences in physical activity level and sociodemographic parameters, which helps to identify different risk groups to increase the effectiveness of phyisical activity interventions.