Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the
relationship between physical
inactivity (PIA) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL)
in rural adults and examine the extent
to which sex differences exist in this relationship.
Methods: A total of 5617 adults 18 years of age and older
who indicated residing in a rural
county was included in this analysis. PIA status was
assessed by questions regarding recreational
physical activity during the previous month. Five HRQOL
measures (physical health, mental
health, inactivity health, general health, & unhealthy
days) were used as primary outcome
variables. PIA and HRQOL prevalence estimates were computed
with 95% CIs. Multiple
logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and
95% CIs adjusted for age, ethnicity,
and income.
Results: Physically inactive rural adults were significantly
more likely to report poor HRQOL
in all overall crude models with ORs ranging from 1.59 to
2.16. Additionally, sex-by-PIA
interactions were significant across all crude HRQOL models
with ORs ranging from 2.27 to
3.08 and 1.56 to 2.42 for women and men, respectively. Sex
differences were maintained in
fully adjusted models, except for mental health and
inactivity health with ORs ranging from
1.80 to 2.58 and 1.41 to 1.79 for women and men,
respectively.
Conclusion: Results from this study show that PIA is a strong
predictor of poor HRQOL even
after controlling for confounding variables. Furthermore,
physically inactive rural women
appear more likely to report poor levels of HRQOL than
physically inactive rural men.