PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND EXERCISE AMONG THE ELDERLY POPULATION: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE IN EASTERN PROVINCE, SAUDI ARABIA 2018-2019

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is an important component of good health while physical inactivity has been associated with increased morbidity and it is identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally. Association between regular physical exercise and the lowering of several other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases is now evident and the high prevalence of physical inactivity among Saudi elderly is a major health concern. Aim and objectives: This study aim was to describe physical activity knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the elderly in the eastern province and the barrier related to it so as to improve patient health. Subjects & Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study on 380 randomly selected elderly in the eastern province using validated questionnaire to collect data and were encoded analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: The participants had good knowledge, positive attitude regarding physical activity and (76.9%) took part in some form of physical activity like walking. Multivariate analysis showed that age, education, being not smoker chronic health problems, were significantly associated with physical activity practice. The most common barrier not to do physical activity and exercise was feeling pain or fatigue Conclusion: Our study concluded that The participants had a good general knowledge of the influence of physical activity on quality of life. Most participants took part in some form of physical activity (walking). Age, education, being not smoker and chronic health problems, were significantly associated with physical activity. Feeling pain or fatigue was the most common barrier to do physical activity and exercise. Future research could concentrate on training health care workers to promote exercise participation in an achievable way for an elderly population