Andrew O'Regan (Ireland)
University of Limerick
School of Medicine
Dr Andrew O’Regan is a General Practitioner in Killarney, Co. Kerry and is Senior Lecturer in General Practice in the University of Limerick School of Medicine. Dr O’Regan is passionate about conducting research that will positively impact on the lives of patients. Accordingly, he has a strong interest in the area of chronic disease prevention and management, specifically, in how physical activity can be promoted in order to prevent and delay onset of these conditions. Multi-morbidity and chronic illnesses constitute an enormous amount of the work of general practice, and Dr O'Regan's research focuses on how to engage with patients to promote physical activity and help communities overcome barriers to becoming more physically active and less sedentary. He is currently in the final year of a PhD on this topic. Furthermore, he lectures medical students in the School of Medicine's longitudinal integrated clerkship and is active in medical education research.

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 Conference Calendar

OBJECTIVELY MEASURED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIOURS AND MULTI-MORBIDITY IN OLDER ADULTS

Session Name
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (ID 102)
Date
05.07.2021, Monday
Session Time
10:00 AM - 10:35 AM
Room
On-Demand Short Orals
Presenter
Lecture Time
10:20 AM - 10:25 AM
Session Icon
On Demand

Abstract

Abstract Body

Background and purpose

Physical activity contributes to the prevention of chronic illness as well as promotion of physical and mental health, but most adults remain inactive. The aims of this study are to: 1. Objectively measure physical behaviour outcomes of adults participating in the Move for Life study; 2. Develop distinct activity profiles based on six behaviour variables; 3. Investigate whether health outcomes differ across the activity profiles.

Methods

Participants were Irish adults aged 50 years and older. Using the activPAL, objectively measured data were collected on average daily: light physical activity (hours); moderate to vigorous physical activity (minutes); step count; time in bed (hours); standing time (hours); and waking sedentary time (hours). Data were obtained on chronic illness and health service utilisation. Validated questionnaires were used to collect data on wellbeing, loneliness and social isolation. Hierarchical cluster analysis using squared Euclidian distance was used to cluster behaviours based on similarity, using SPSS version 26. Regression models explored associations between health outcomes and activity profiles, adjusted for age and sex.

Results

Data from 485 participants were analysed, and four activity profiles were identified: sedentary (n=50, 10.3% of total), low active (n= 295 ,60.8%), moderate active (111, 22.9%) and higher active (n=29, 6%). We will present the differences across the activity profiles for chronic illnesses, multi-morbidity, health service utilisation and validated health tools, comparing to data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Conclusions

The use of physical activity behaviour clusters may identify people with multi-morbidity, and could be factored into the development of future targeted physical activity interventions.

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