Age Related Changes in Physical Activity and Incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases in a Sample of Kuwaiti Adults

Abstract

The incidence of major chronic Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) medically diagnosed or treated, was studies in a cross section of Kuwait adult population as well as their daily levels of physical activity (PA) as recalled by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, IPAQ. A group of 1957 subjects 17 - 65 years of age, representative of the Kuwait population was selected using last year high school students and their relatives as well as government workers in each Kuwait governorate. Descriptive statistics, frequency tables, chi square and Fisher tests were used. ANOVA or Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparisons. The percentage of subjects in the low categorical PA level (from IPAQ) is high (29.4%) even at a young age (17 - 24), similar in prevalence to overweight/obesity (30%). At age 45, obesity increases to 40% with little change in % subjects of low PA. Weighted average categorical PA was 1280 MET.min/week reflecting that the majority (40%) of subjects belonged to the moderate PA category. A high proportion (38%) of subjects in the 17 - 24 age category contributed to the observed level of PA activity. Incidence of overweight and obesity increased from 30 to more than 55% from the second to the sixth decade of life. Hyperlipidemias increased in incidence from 8% to 45% of the sample from the third to the sixth decades of age. Hypertension and diabetes increased from the 4 th to the 6 th decades of life to affect from 14% to 40% and from 10% to 36% of the studied population, respectively. Incidence of Heart Disease increased from 9% to 15% of the sample population, between the 5 th and 6 th decades of life. The data indicate a sequence of events, initiated by overweight and obesity as early as in the 2 d decade of life, followed by hyperlipidemia in the 3 d decade, diabetes and hypertension in the 4 th , and heart disease in the 5 th decade of life. Changes in incidence of low energy expenditure (low PA) were not associated with the observed changes in prevalence of obesity/overweight with age which are likely due to increments in energy intake in groups with insufficient PA. Changes in low PA incidence with age did not correlate with those in NCD. Interventions to minimize overweight and hyperlipidemia should be started in the second and third decades of life respectively. Increases in PA may potentiate the responses to these treatments.