Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2024-75-3808
Frequency of regular walking among Croatian adults
Slaven Krtalić
orcid.org/0000-0001-8319-7125
; Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Helena Križan
; Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Sanja Musić Milanović
orcid.org/0000-0003-4643-1052
; Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia, 2 University of Zagreb School of Medicine, School of Public Health Andrija Štampar, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the share of Croatian adults who walk 210 min or more a week and to explore the relationship between regular walking and demographic factors, health-related behaviours, and chronic non-communicable diseases/conditions. To this end, we used the EHIS-PAQ questionnaire and collected self-reported data on minutes spent walking during a typical week from a total of 3,496 respondents. The data were additionally analysed by gender, age, education, residence (urban/rural), counties and regions, smoking, other types of physical activity, and diseases/chronic conditions. The results show that, overall, 40.9 % of the adult Croatian population walks 210 or more minutes a week, with the largest share found among those from the Lika-Senj County (76.8 %), those who spend 300 min or more weekly on health-enhancing (non-work-related) aerobic physical activity (57.6 %), those who reported having diabetes (49.3 %), and those aged 65–74 years (44.7 %). Despite its limitations, our study gives a valuable insight into the frequency and factors determining healthy walking habits in a representative sample of Croatian adults and provides grounds for further research.
Keywords
chronic non-communicable diseases; demographics; EHIS-PAQ; health; physical activity
Hrčak ID:
315334
URI
Publication date:
19.3.2024.
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