Gender, Race, Health, and Limitation Status May Help Target Interventions to Increase Physical Activity Among Patients With Asthma

Targeted interventions to increase physical activity among US adults with asthma may benefit from considering gender, race, health status, and limitation status, according to a study published in the Journal of Asthma.

“This retrospective cross-sectional study included US adults (≥18 years) with asthma in the 2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data,” wrote corresponding author Ziyad Almatruk, PharmD, a Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, College of Pharmacy, The University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ, US, and coauthor.

The study's objective was to examine the factors linked to frequent moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity among adults in the US who have asthma. The study comprised 2410 participants; of these, 46.9% reported engaging in frequent moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. According to the fully adjusted analyses, the following factors were found to be associated with a higher likelihood of reporting frequent moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity: being male as compared with female (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=1.4, 95% CI= 1.1–1.7), being White as compared with other races (AOR=1.3, 95% CI=1.0–1.6), having excellent/very good/good physical health as compared with fair/poor physical health (AOR=2.3, 95% CI=1.7–3.0), and having no functional limitations as compared with having functional limitations (AOR=1.7, 95% CI=1.3–2.2).

“The factors identified in this study (gender, race, health status, and limitation status) may be helpful to target interventions to raise awareness and increase physical activity among US adults with asthma,” concluded the study authors.

Reference

Almatruk Z, Axon DR. Factors associated with frequent physical activity among United States adults with asthma. J Asthma. 2023;60(6):1237-1245. doi:10.1080/02770903.2022.2142134