Factores asociados a sedentarismo en Chile: evidencia de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud 2009-2010

María Adela Martínez, Ana María Leiva, Fanny Petermann, Alex Garrido, Ximena Díaz, Cristian Álvarez, Carlos Salas, Carlos Cristi, Fernando Rodríguez, Nicolás Aguilar, Rodrigo Ramírez, Carlos Celis

Sedentary behaviors are one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. To identify factors associated with high sedentary behaviors in the Chilean population. We included 5,040 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009-2010. Physical activity level and sedentary behavior (sitting time) were measured using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ v2). Highly sedentary behaviors were determined as > 4 hours per day of sitting time. Logistic regression was used to identify correlates of highly sedentary behavior. Forty seven percent of the study population reported spending more than 4 hours per day sitting. The prevalence was higher in women. The main factors associated with high sedentary behavior were: high income levels (Odds ratio (OR):1.91 [95% Confidence intervals (CI:1.61-2.27]); being woman (OR:1.39 [95% CI:1.24-1.56]): having central obesity (OR:1.15 [95% CI:1.02-1.30]), being physically inactive (OR:2.35 [95% CI:2.06-2.68]), and living in an urban area (OR:1.92 [95% CI:1.63-2.26]). Other factors associates with high sedentary behavior were: being smoker, having a television set, computer and private car at their homes. Participants reporting a poor self-reported health and wellbeing and those with diabetes or metabolic syndrome were more likely to be highly sedentary. The main factors associated with high levels of sedentary behavior are socio-demographic issues, lifestyles and health status.