Physical Activity, Obesity, and Hypertension among Adults in a Rapidly Urbanised City

Qianqian Dun; Wanglin Xu; Maozhen Fu; Nengjian Wu; Justin B Moore; Ting Yu; Xin Li; Yating Du; Biao Zhang; Qiaomai Wang; Yiting Duan; Ziqi Meng; Shuangshuang Tian; Yuliang Zou

doi:10.1155/2021/9982562

Physical Activity, Obesity, and Hypertension among Adults in a Rapidly Urbanised City

Int J Hypertens. 2021 Aug 11:2021:9982562. doi: 10.1155/2021/9982562. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Qianqian Dun¹, Wanglin Xu¹, Maozhen Fu², Nengjian Wu², Justin B Moore³, Ting Yu¹, Xin Li⁴, Yating Du¹, Biao Zhang¹, Qiaomai Wang¹, Yiting Duan¹, Ziqi Meng⁵, Shuangshuang Tian¹, Yuliang Zou¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China.
² Disease Control and Prevention Center of Pingshan District in Shenzhen City, Guangzhou 518100, China.
³ Department of Implementation Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
⁴ School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.
⁵ School of Nursing, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, Shandong 261053, China.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have explored the relationship between the level of physical activity and the occurrence or prevalence of obesity and hypertension among people residing in urbanised areas.

Method: A cross-sectional study involving a sample of 1,001 adults was conducted. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sociodemographic variables, physical activity levels, body mass index (BMI), and prevalence of hypertension. Logistic regression models were adopted to investigate the relationship between these factors.

Results: A total of 939 respondents who provided valid responses were included. Among them, 56.5% of the participants reported engaging in high levels of physical activity. However, 40.4% of the respondents were classified as overweight or obese, and 31.9% had diagnosed hypertension. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, logistic regression analysis revealed that physical activity levels were negatively correlated with the prevalence of BMI (OR = 0.564, 95% CI: 0.352-0.905; OR = 0.583, 95% CI: 0.375-0.907) and hypertension (OR = 0.556, 95% CI: 0.348-0.888).

Conclusions: Our study confirms recent evidence regarding the amount of physical activity that is associated with lower prevalence of obesity and hypertension in Pingshan District. Furthermore, different physical activities of various intensity levels had different effects on hypertension. Residents should be encouraged to engage in physical activities and maintain a healthy weight to improve their quality of life.