Physical Activity, Quality Of Life And Ambient Air Pollution Status

Physical activity has been shown to enhance quality of life (QOL) across different population subgroups, although the association is thought to be indirect through enhancing self-efficacy, affect and health status. Air quality has been shown to modulate health risks and it has also been linked to quality of life indicators such as life satisfaction. However, little is known about the interaction between physical activity and air quality and its impact on quality of life. PURPOSE: To investigate the links between physical activity, air pollution status and quality of life using data from the Healthy Aging in Industrial Environment (4HAIE) cohort. METHODS: 4HAIE is a longitudinal prospective study of a cohort of adults (n = 1314, age range 18-65) recruited from two geographical regions in the Czech Republic with high and low levels of ambient air pollution and involving both runners and inactive adults. In a preliminary analysis of baseline questionnaire data from the 4HAIE cohort study, we compared QOL indicators between the two cohorts. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in QOL (life satisfaction or health-related QOL) based on ambient air-pollution status. Active runners had higher life satisfaction (t1292 = 5.353, p < 0.001) and mental health component of health-related QOL (t1309 = 6.591, p < 0.001) than inactives. In models controlling for age and gender, there was also a statistically significant ambient air-pollution status by physical activity status interaction, with inactive adults from the air-polluted region reporting lower life satisfaction than the other groups (F3,942 = 12.225, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional analysis suggests that physical activity may protect against QOL decrements when residing in an air-polluted environment. Subsequent analyses will examine longitudinal associations between physical activity, QOL, and ambient air pollution status in this cohort. This work is from the project, Research of Excellence on Digital Technologies and Wellbeing“ (CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004583) which is co-financed by the European Union. The data are from the project 4HAIE,Healthy Aging in Industrial Environment - Program 4“ (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000798).