Quality of life based on level of physical activity among elderly residents of urban and rural areas

Abstract Objective: To analyze quality of life (QOL) according to level of physical activity among elderly persons living in rural (RA) and urban (UA) areas. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study, analyzing 358 elderly residents of RA and 139 of UA, in the municipal region of Palmas, Paraná, Brazil was performed. Quality of life, level of physical activity and economic condition were evaluated. For the analysis of the continuous variables, the student’s t-test or the Mann-Whitney test were used, based on the normality or otherwise of the data. Pearson's chi-squared or Fischer’s exact test were used to analyze the categorical variables. Results: The general perception of QOL reported in RA was better than in UA (p0.05), irrespective of place of residence, and active elderly persons had better QOL scores than insufficiently active or sedentary individuals, again irrespective of place of residence (p