Title
The physical activity level of people working at a regional health office in Lima, Peru
Other title
Nivel de actividad física en los trabajadores de una Dirección Regional de Salud de Lima, Perú
Date Issued
01 January 2014
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Abstract
Objective Determining the prevalence of physical activity for health workers from a regional health office in Lima; their nutritional status and history of noncommunicable diseases is also described. Material and Methods The study was cross-sectional and observations were made between August and November 2012. The study population involved 172 health workers working at a regional health office in Lima (DIRESA) according to the inclusion criteria and their acceptance of the offer to participate. Workers were excluded who had some kind of physical limitation regarding physical exercise. Their physical activity level was determined by using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) which measures physical activity domains: work, home, transport and leisure. SPSS-19 was used for processed the data and nutritional status was evaluated using the body mass index (BMI), according to WHO classification. Results 88.0 % of DIRESA workers had a low level of physical activity and 64.0 % were overweight. Among the most common non-communicable diseases, it was found that 4.7 % had diabetes, 15.6 % hypertension, 32.6 % dyslipidaemia and 15.0 % smoked. Conclusions DIRESA workers had a high prevalence of physical inactivity and excess weight, so it is advisable to implement healthy policies helping to improve their health.
Start page
53
End page
62
Volume
16
Issue
1
Language
Spanish
OCDE Knowledge area
Medicina integral, Medicina complementaria Salud pública, Salud ambiental Medicina general, Medicina interna
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84937703933
PubMed ID
Source
Revista de Salud Publica
ISSN of the container
01240064
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus