• Roselaine da Silva Gomes, Aline Rodrigues Barbosa, Vandrize Meneghini, Susana Cararo Confortin, Eleonora d'Orsi, and Cassiano Ricardo Rech.
• BSc. Master's Student, Postgraduate Program in Physical Education, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis (SC), Brazil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2020 Nov 1; 138 (6): 545553545-553.

BackgroundBeing active has been shown to have beneficial effects for the health of individuals with chronic diseases. However, data on the association between multimorbidity and physical activity are limited.ObjectiveTo investigate the association between chronic diseases, multimorbidity and insufficient physical activity among older adults in southern Brazil, according to sex.Design And SettingCross-sectional population-based and household-based study derived from the second wave (2013-2014) of the EpiFloripa Aging Cohort Study.MethodsInsufficiency of physical activity (outcome) was ascertained using the long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (≤ 150 minutes/week). Eleven self-reported chronic diseases were identified. Multimorbidity was defined from the number of chronic diseases (none; 2 or 3; or 4 or more). The adjustment variables were age, schooling, marital status, income, smoking, alcohol consumption and cognition. Additionally, each chronic disease was adjusted for the others. Associations were tested using logistic regression (crude and adjusted).ResultsAmong the 1197 participants (≥ 63 years), women (54.0%) were more likely than men (39.6%) to be insufficiently active. In the adjusted analysis, women and men with depressive symptoms, and men with diabetes, were more likely to be insufficiently active than those without symptoms. Multimorbid women were more likely to be insufficiently active, and the magnitude of the effect was strongest for 4 or more diseases.ConclusionThis study indicates that the associations were sex-specific. Depressive symptoms and multimorbidity were associated with insufficient physical activity among women, while diabetes was associated with insufficient physical activity among men.

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