The relationship between weekly physical activity and quality of life in elderly women (pilot study)

Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate a relationship between weekly physical activity and quality of life in elderly women. Methods: Participants were 22 elderly women ≥ 60 years (mean age 66 . 27 ± 4 . 99) with weight ≥ 50kg (mean weight 74.84 ± 14. 87kg) from Nitra. In this pilot study we used 2 questionnaires. The assessment of quality of life (QoL) was conducted by Short - Form General H ealth Survey (SF - 36). To examine weekly physical activity we selected International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Both questionnaires were evaluated separately by standardized scoring manual for SF - 36 and IPAQ. To examine a relationship between r esults of SF - 36 and IPAQ we used non - parametric Spearman's correlation coefficient (r s ). Results: The results from IPAQ show significant relationship between quantity and quality of weekly physical activity and age (r s = - 0. 562). More significant relations hips were found in results from SF - 36. The results showed significant relationship between domain of Vitality (r s = - 0. 508), Social Functioning (r s = - 0. 634), Mental Health (r s = - 0. 537), Mental Health Summary (r s = - 0. 549) and age. There was also signific ant relationship between domain of Vitality (r s = - 0. 598), Mental Health (r s = - 0. 505), Mental Health Summary (r s = - 0. 505) and weight. In this study, the results did not show relationship between weekly physical activity and domains from SF - 36. Conclusion s: According to the results from both questionnaires we follow the age - related decline of weekly physical activity, vitality and mental health. In our study, questionnaires IPAQ and SF - 36 did not show relationship between each other. For the further invest igation we intend to use different questionnaires for elderly people or we could measure the physical activity with pedometer or other new devices which are now available on the market.