Physical Activity, Mental Health and Consumption of Medications in Pre-Elderly People: The National Health Survey 2017

Background: The promotion of Physical Activity (PA) is an important public health goal to reduce comorbidity and diseases associated with aging such as anxiety and depression. Aim: To investigate the association between level of PA, mental health and the consumption of medications among a representative cohort of Spanish pre-elderly people. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 5977 participants aged 50 to 64 years who participated in the National Health Survey in Spain 2017. The levels of PA were evaluated using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the mental conditions were measured by the Goldberg Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). The chi-square test was used for qualitative variables; Pearson’s correlation was conducted between GHQ-12 score with different quantitative variables; and a logistic regression was used to determine the association between PA and mental health with the sociodemographic characteristics. Results: The participants were 51.9% women and 48.1% men with a mean age of 56.79 years, and 35.5% of participants had a low level of PA. A low level of PA was associated with cases of mental health vulnerability, anxiety and depression (in women), the consumption of more medications and greater multimorbidity. Conclusion: It is important that people reach old age with an optimal health status in order to reduce age-related disability and morbidity. More than a third of the Spanish pre-elderly do not reach the levels of PA recommended by the WHO. People who had low level of PA consumed more medications and had higher mental health vulnerability and greater multimorbidity.