Capability to promote physical activity in South American countries: an ecological study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12820/rbafs.30e0377Keywords:
Surveillance, Public policy, Ecological studies, Physical activity, South AmericaAbstract
Objective: To analyze the relationship between physical activity (PA) research, monitoring, and policy indicators and the prevalence of PA in South American countries. Methods: An ecological study was carried out based on PA information from a representative sample of the adult population, through national surveys, from all countries in South America. In each country, data on total and leisure time PA were assessed using survey-specific questionnaires, and information on research, monitoring, and policy indicators to promote PA was provided. Spearman correlation was carried out for the analysis. Results: The frequency of policies aimed only at promoting PA (rho = 0.67, p = 0.025) and the frequency of discontinued policies (rho = -0.65, p = 0.028) were correlated to the prevalence of leisure-time PA. No relationship was observed for the prevalence of total PA. Conclusion: Targeted and sustained public policies seems be related with leisure-time PA in South American countries.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ingrid Kelly Alves dos Santos Pinheiro, Kabir P. Sadarangani, Rafael Miranda Tassitano, Javier Brazo-Sayavera, Robinson Ramírez-Vélez, João Carlos do Nascimento Melo, Leandro dos Santos, Danilo Rodrigues Pereira da Silva
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