PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Abu Abdullah Mohammad Hanif AU - Mehedi Hasan AU - Md Showkat Ali Khan AU - Md Mokbul Hossain AU - Abu Ahmed Shamim AU - Dipak Kumar Mitra AU - Moyazzam Hossaine AU - Mohammad Aman Ullah AU - Samir Kanti Sarker AU - S M Mustafizur Rahman AU - Md Mofijul Islam Bulbul AU - Malay Kanti Mridha TI - Prevalence and associated factors of insufficient physical activity among elderly people in Bangladesh: a nationally representative cross-sectional study AID - 10.1136/bmjsem-2021-001135 DP - 2021 Sep 01 TA - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine PG - e001135 VI - 7 IP - 3 4099 - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/7/3/e001135.short 4100 - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/7/3/e001135.full SO - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED2021 Sep 01; 7 AB - Objectives Insufficient physical activity (IPA) is a crucial risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The elderly population has a higher likelihood of suffering from NCDs. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of and factors associated with IPA among the elderly people in Bangladesh.Methods We analysed data from the Bangladesh Food Security and Nutrition Surveillance round 2018–2019, collected from 82 rural, non-slum urban and slum clusters selected using multistage cluster sampling. IPA was defined as <150 min of moderate intensity or <75 min of vigorous intensity or equivalent in a typical week. The weighted prevalence of IPA was estimated by gender and across different variables. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios were calculated using Poisson regression with robust variance.Results The weighted prevalence of IPA among elderly people was 38.4%, with a slightly higher prevalence in women (39.7% vs 37.3%). Factors associated with higher prevalence of IPA in both sexes were—higher age, living in non-slum urban areas, unemployed or homemaker, not currently married, sedentary behaviour and self-reported hypertension. Further, >10 years of education, inadequate fruits and vegetable consumption, self-reported asthma and higher waist circumference among men; and higher household income and self-reported diabetes among women were associated with a higher prevalence of IPA.Conclusions IPA is highly prevalent among Bangladeshi elderly men and women. Sedentary behaviour, inadequate fruits and vegetable consumption and higher waist circumference were the modifiable factors of IPA. Evidence from this study can guide the development of appropriate interventions to promote healthy ageing in Bangladesh.Data are available upon reasonable request. Data are available upon reasonable request. All such requests can be sent to the Institutional Review Board, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, to the email address: irb-jpgsph@bracu.ac.bd.