Review article
Prevalence of Insufficient Physical Activity in Croatia and in the World: An Overview of Studies
Danijel Jurakić
orcid.org/0000-0002-4861-4066
; Kineziološki fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Stjepan Heimer
; Kineziološki fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
From the public health point of view, physical activity is a behaviour that can directly and indirectly affect population’s health. This has been well-supported by numerous studies and health benefits of physical activity have been widely accepted. Along with these, there are also psychological, social, economic, and environmental benefits of physical activity, which have been investigated by many studies. Therefore, it is no surprise that physical activity is monitored in many countries. The aim of this paper is to summarize the results of the most important studies of physical activity prevalence across the world with an emphasis on the studies conducted in Croatian population. We presented the prevalence of physical activity by
describing the world’s major surveillance systems for monitoring health behaviours. Along with the results of international surveillance systems, we summarized the results of independent Croatian studies conducted on representative samples of children, adolescents, and adults. Despite the great number of studies and reports where the prevalence of insufficient physical activity was determined, it is still not possible to draw an unambiguous conclusion on the proportion of suffi ciently or insufficiently physically active individuals in the population. The inability to draw unequivocal conclusions can mainly be attributed to differences in the methodology of physical activity measurements across various studies. With the above mentioned
limitation in mind, it is possible to conclude that there are a considerable number of insufficiently active individuals on a global level. Furthermore, the prevalence of insuffi cient activity varies greatly across countries. It is estimated that the global prevalence of insufficient activity among adults is 31 %. Higher prevalence of insufficient activity among women than men and higher prevalence of insufficient activity in the elderly compared to younger people was found in almost all studies. An extremely high proportion of insufficiently active children and adolescents in the European and North American countries (81 %) indicate that there is a need to promote physical activity in this population. The prevalence of insufficient physical activity in Croatia is very similar to the one on the global level, though the fact that approximately 60 % of Croatian population does not exercise at all, should also be mentioned. Very high prevalence of insufficient physical activity among children and adolescents highlights the need to undertake urgent measures to change physical activity habits. If we take into account the fact that there are 92 % of insufficiently active 15-year-old girls in Croatia and that physical activity is vital for youth’s health, there is an obvious need to develop a national strategy for physical activity promotion among children and adolescents. In this process, special attention should be paid to women and high school students because these are the groups with the highest prevalence of insuffi cient activity.
Keywords
exercise; health behaviours; international comparison; physical inactivity; public health; surveillance
Hrčak ID:
92072
URI
Publication date:
16.11.2012.
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