Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Mar 23;22(1):578. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12982-8.
Physical activity (PA) contributes to healthy aging. Several studies have investigated factors influencing PA. However, population-based studies evaluating associations between volunteering and changes in PA are lacking. Our aim was to clarify whether starting and stopping to volunteer is associated with changes in physical activity in older adults.
We used data from the German Ageing Survey (wave 5 and 6 in the years 2014 and 2017), which is a representative survey of community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults. We included individuals ≥ 65 years (analytical sample: n = 5,682). PA was investigated using questions from the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) and converted into metabolic equivalent of tasks (METs) per week. Changes in volunteering status in groups or organizations (yes/no) and their association with changes in PA were investigated in adjusted asymmetric fixed effects models stratified by sex.
We found an association, between starting to volunteer and increased physical activity in older adults in the total sample (ß = 1,078.93, p = 0.052). This change reached significance for men (ß = 1,751.54, p = 0.016), but not for women (ß = 187.25, p = 0.832) in the stratified analyses. In the total sample, there was no association between stopping volunteering and decreases in PA (ß = -285.61, p = 0.543). This also held true in the stratified analyses for men (ß = -320.76, p = 0.583) and women (ß = -158.96, p = 0.845).
Our study identified an association between beginning to volunteer and increased physical activity among older men. Thus, beginning to volunteer may assist older men in increasing their physical activity levels.
身体活动（PA）有助于健康老龄化。多项研究调查了影响 PA 的因素。然而，缺乏基于人群的研究来评估志愿服务与 PA 变化之间的关系。我们的目的是阐明开始和停止志愿服务是否与老年人 PA 的变化有关。
我们使用了德国老龄化调查（2014 年和 2017 年的第 5 波和第 6 波）的数据，该调查是一项针对社区居住的中年和老年人的代表性调查。我们纳入了年龄≥65 岁的个体（分析样本：n=5682）。使用国际身体活动问卷（IPAQ）中的问题来调查 PA，并将其转换为每周代谢当量任务（METs）。调整不对称固定效应模型按性别分层，调查了团体或组织中志愿服务状态的变化（是/否）及其与 PA 变化的关系。
我们发现，在总样本中，开始志愿服务与老年人的身体活动增加之间存在关联（β=1078.93，p=0.052）。在分层分析中，这种变化对男性有意义（β=1751.54，p=0.016），但对女性没有意义（β=187.25，p=0.832）。在总样本中，停止志愿服务与 PA 减少之间没有关联（β=-285.61，p=0.543）。这在男性（β=-320.76，p=0.583）和女性（β=-158.96，p=0.845）的分层分析中也是如此。
我们的研究确定了开始志愿服务与老年男性 PA 增加之间的关联。因此，开始志愿服务可能有助于老年男性提高他们的身体活动水平。
