Ethnic Differences in All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality by Physical Activity Levels among Older Adults in the US

Citation

Vásquez, Elizabeth; Sahakyan, Karine R.; Batsis, John A.; Germain, Cassandra M.; Somers, Virend K.; & Shaw, Benjamin A. (2018). Ethnic Differences in All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality by Physical Activity Levels among Older Adults in the US. Ethnicity & Health, 23(1), 72-80. PMCID: PMC5852666

Abstract

AIMS: This study sought to determine whether the association between varying levels of physical activity (PA) and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality differ by race/ethnicity in older adults.
METHODS: The sample comprised 2520 women and 2398 men drawn from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (1988-1994) aged ≥ 60 years. We used the metabolic equivalent (MET) of self-reported PA levels to define activity groups (inactive: those who did not report any PA; active: those who reported 3-6 METs for ≥5 times/week or >6 METs, ≥3 times/week; insufficiently active: those meeting neither criteria). Racial/Ethnic differences were modeled using proportional hazard regression (HR) adjusting for age, education, smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.
RESULTS: Among those classified as inactive, Non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB) (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.58-0.90) and Mexican Americans (HR: 0.59, 95%CI: 0.45-0.78) had a lower risk of all-cause mortality when compared to non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). Among those classified as insufficiently active, Mexican Americans (HR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.51-0.77), but not NHB (HR: 0.81, (95% CI: 0.64-1.02) had a lower risk of all-cause mortality when compared to NHWs Similar results were observed for cardiovascular mortality.
CONCLUSION: Overall, PA in the elderly (either insufficient or active) is associated with a lower all-cause mortality across all race/ethnic groups as compared to NHW. Further investigation, including studies with larger sample, is needed to address the health consequences of varying degrees of PA in ethnically diverse populations.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2016.1253830

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2018

Journal Title

Ethnicity & Health

Author(s)

Vásquez, Elizabeth
Sahakyan, Karine R.
Batsis, John A.
Germain, Cassandra M.
Somers, Virend K.
Shaw, Benjamin A.

Article Type

Regular

PMCID

PMC5852666

Data Set/Study

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

Continent/Country

United States of America

State

Nonspecific

ORCiD

Batis - 0000-0002-2823-6651