Sedentarismo entre profissionais de saúde da estratégia saúde da família no município de Fortaleza

Abstract

A sedentary lifestyle or physical inactivity is, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), the number one enemy of public health, associated with two million deaths per year worldwide and 75% in the Americas. The overall objective of the present work wasevaluating the prevalence of sedentarism among health professionals, members of the Primary Health Care Unit, in the city of Fortaleza. This transversal study was conducted from August 2012 until April 2014, which included the participation of 368 health professionals.Two questionnaires were used: the first collected information on socioeconomic and demographic aspects and evaluation of physical activity occurred by using the International Physical Activity Questionnaires (IPAQ) in short form. As a result, it was observed that the prevalence of sedentarism was 47.3% and affected mainly females (85.0%); in individuals aged below 40 years (64.9%); married / common-law marriage (69.0%); with children (65.5%); with higher education (87.4%); nurses (33.3%); individuals with other occupation (52.9%); with a schedule up to 40 hours (59.8%); that had no physical disability (97.1%) or chronic disease (81.6%); nonsmokers (97.7%) and rarely drank (68.9%); who rated their health as good (54.4%); and with weight excess (53.2%).In a multivariate analysis, only remain as potential factors determining sedentarism: be aged between 40 and 59 years; being separated/widowed and part of the group of health workers (auxiliary/technical). In this way, it is necessary to think about strategies that encourage regular physical activity among sedentary individuals.