Background: The present study aims to estimate leisure-time physical activity and television (TV) viewing curves according to age stratified by sex, area of residence, and socioeconomic position.
Methods: Using data from the Brazilian National Health Survey, we estimated the prevalence of leisure-time physical activity and TV viewing according to continuous age. The estimates were calculated using fractional polynomials and stratified by sex, wealth, skin color, and area of residence.
Results: The sample included 87,376 adults (aged 18 y or over). In general, leisure-time physical activity decreased according to age while TV viewing increased. Regarding behavior of curves according to stratifiers, for leisure-time physical activity the disadvantaged groups maintained a pattern of low physical activity across all age groups or presented the decrease earlier when compared to groups in social advantage. On the other hand, for TV viewing, women presented an increase in prevalence before men, and individuals living in the urban area and the wealthiest group were those with a higher increase according to age.
Conclusions: Our findings may help researchers and policymakers further explore inequalities in physical activity across life in different settings, as well as develop sensitive cultural actions to support more vulnerable people to adopt public health recommendations.
Keywords: aging; epidemiology; health behavior; health disparities.