THE EFFECT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE. A CROSS-SECTIONAL INVESTIGATION OF A SAMPLE FROM REGION CENTRAL JUTLAND

Christensen, Louise Næser

4. term

Medicine with Industrial Specialisation, Master

2011

2011-05-30

81 pages

The way of living has changed, particularly over the last three decades, where the necessity of being physically active has declined. This has resulted in an increase in inactivity, which has caused a corresponding increase in different life-style-related diseases. To take precautionary measures against these diseases and to improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among the population the Danish National Board of Health recommends that per-sons above the age of 18 are active for at least 30 minutes every day at a moderate level. The purpose of this project is to investigate if these recommendations cause a better health in a sample from Region Central Jutland. HRQOL is measured using physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores from the Short-Form Health Survey SF-12. PCS and MCS have been calculated beforehand, and are validated using factor analysis. The effect of physical activity on SF-12 is measured using multiple regression analysis. The factor analysis shows that the calculated PCS and MCS are valid measures to use in further analysis, because they are highly correlated (98.7 and 99.7 percent respectively) with the actual PCS and MCS from the sample. The multiple re-gression shows that physical activity has a posi-tive effect both on PCS and MCS, but this variable is not the highest predictor in achieving a high HRQOL. Age and stress have a higher influence on PCS and MCS respectively. With this it can be concluded that physical activ-ity has a positive effect on HRQOL, but stress is an even higher predictor of how you feel mentally.

Health-related quality of life, HRQOL, Physical Activity, Factor analysis, Multiple regression analysis

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