Level of active aging: Influence of environmental, social and health-related factors

Objective: To analyze social, environmental and health-related inequalities in the level of active aging among older adults who participated in the Health Survey conducted in the city of Campinas, Brazil. Methods: The level of active aging was estimated based on a ranking of engagement in activities using factor analysis. More active older adults (situated in the highest tertile of the ranking) were compared with the others through the prevalence ratios (PR) and respective 95 % confidence intervals (CI) estimated by Poisson regression. Results: The study population thus consisted of 986 older adults. The majority of the respondents were female (57.6 %), in the 60-69 years age group (56.7 %), had less than 8 years of schooling (65.3 %) and had a per capita family income of 1-3 minimum salaries (55.3 %). Access to public spaces for the practice of physical activity near the home (PR = 1.44; 95 % CI, 1.07 -1.94) and higher level of education (PR = 2.14; 95 % CI, 1.60 - 2.86), income (PR = 1.73; 95 % CI, 1.25 - 2.40), physical health (PR = 1.44; 95 % CI, 1.13 -1.82) and mental health (PR = 1.62; 95 % CI, 1.05 - 2.49) were more prevalent among older adults with a high level of active aging. Discussion: The findings demonstrate that the level of involvement in activities does not solely depend on personal choices. Social, economic, environmental, physical and mental contexts all exert a strong influence.