Table 3 Characteristics of participants in each physical activity trajectory (N = 10,371)
Low-stable (13.3%) | Moderate-stable (50.4%) | Moderate-increasing (22.0%) | High-declining (7.7%) | High-stable (6.6%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Characteristics at age 47–52 | |||||
Age – mean (SD) | 49.1 (1.4) | 49.0 (1.6) | 49.0 (1.8) | 49.2 (1.5) | 49.2 (1.4) |
Country of birth | |||||
Australia | 80.0 | 77.5 | 76.4 | 78.2 | 76.3 |
Other English-speaking country | 10.9 | 13.7 | 15.9 | 13.6 | 14.5 |
Europe | 6.5 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
Asia/Other | 2.7 | 3.2 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
Area of residence | |||||
Major city | 30.1 | 34.1 | 33.3 | 26.8 | 34.7 |
Inner regional | 40.5 | 40.1 | 42.6 | 43.8 | 42.3 |
Outer regional | 23.7 | 20.7 | 19.4 | 24.1 | 18.3 |
Remote/Very remote | 5.6 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 4.7 |
Educational attainment | |||||
< 12 years school | 63.6 | 46.5 | 40.0 | 47.4 | 39.1 |
12 years school | 14.4 | 17.0 | 16.9 | 20.7 | 16.0 |
Post-school certificate | 14.3 | 20.4 | 23.5 | 20.0 | 25.2 |
Degree/Higher degree | 7.7 | 16.1 | 19.7 | 12.0 | 19.7 |
Marital status | |||||
Single | 4.5 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Married | 79.9 | 84.2 | 83.8 | 83.6 | 82.7 |
Separated/Divorced/Widowed | 15.6 | 12.9 | 13.3 | 13.0 | 14.0 |
Ability to manage on income | |||||
Easy | 9.6 | 14.8 | 19.5 | 16.9 | 22.9 |
Not too bad | 35.3 | 41.9 | 43.6 | 40.7 | 43.9 |
Difficult sometimes | 32.2 | 29.6 | 25.9 | 29.1 | 26.0 |
Impossible/Difficult always | 22.9 | 13.7 | 11.0 | 13.3 | 7.2 |
Hours paid work | |||||
None | 31.6 | 21.2 | 16.5 | 28.9 | 17.6 |
1–34 h/week | 31.9 | 37.3 | 39.4 | 39.0 | 39.3 |
≥ 35 h/week | 36.6 | 41.5 | 44.1 | 32.2 | 43.1 |
Living with children age < 18 | |||||
No | 71.6 | 66.7 | 68.6 | 72.0 | 72.9 |
Yes | 28.4 | 33.3 | 31.4 | 28.0 | 27.1 |
Provides care for grandchildren | |||||
None | 55.5 | 59.0 | 61.6 | 55.5 | 62.2 |
Occasionally | 35.5 | 33.3 | 31.2 | 34.0 | 32.3 |
Weekly/Daily | 9.1 | 7.7 | 7.2 | 10.6 | 5.5 |
Provision of care for others | |||||
None | 68.6 | 68.5 | 69.1 | 63.9 | 68.4 |
Occasionally | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 10.7 | 7.1 |
Weekly/Daily | 23.2 | 23.2 | 22.1 | 25.4 | 24.6 |
Menopause status | |||||
Peri-menopause | 22.9 | 24.8 | 25.1 | 25.8 | 24.4 |
Surgical menopause | 33.0 | 24.3 | 23.7 | 24.9 | 20.5 |
HRT/OCP use | 14.9 | 15.8 | 14.9 | 16.5 | 13.3 |
Pre-menopause | 18.2 | 24.2 | 25.2 | 23.1 | 27.7 |
Post-menopause | 11.0 | 10.9 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 14.0 |
BMI | |||||
Underweight/Normal | 33.0 | 46.3 | 56.7 | 52.5 | 67.4 |
Overweight | 30.9 | 33.4 | 29.2 | 30.9 | 25.4 |
Obese | 36.1 | 20.2 | 14.1 | 16.6 | 7.2 |
Physical healtha | |||||
First quartile (highest) | 15.3 | 23 | 30.5 | 26.7 | 39.8 |
Second quartile | 17.4 | 24.8 | 27.7 | 26.2 | 30.2 |
Third quartile | 24.5 | 26.2 | 23.7 | 26.9 | 18.9 |
Fourth quartile (lowest) | 42.9 | 26 | 18.1 | 20.1 | 11.1 |
Mental healtha | |||||
First quartile (highest) | 19.1 | 23.6 | 27.9 | 31.4 | 31.4 |
Second quartile | 19.9 | 25.0 | 27.6 | 21.8 | 29.6 |
Third quartile | 26.0 | 25.4 | 24.4 | 24.3 | 22.2 |
Fourth quartile (lowest) | 34.9 | 26.0 | 20.1 | 22.5 | 16.8 |
Chronic conditions | |||||
0 | 28.3 | 34.5 | 39.1 | 38.9 | 40.3 |
1 | 28.6 | 31.9 | 33.6 | 31.2 | 33.5 |
2 | 23.4 | 18.9 | 16.7 | 16.3 | 15.0 |
≥ 3 | 19.8 | 14.7 | 10.6 | 13.5 | 11.1 |
Smoking status | |||||
Non-smoker | 48.3 | 58.3 | 59.2 | 55.4 | 56.8 |
Ex-smoker | 24.4 | 27.1 | 28.5 | 26.8 | 30.7 |
Current smoker | 27.2 | 14.6 | 12.2 | 17.8 | 12.5 |
Alcohol statusa | |||||
Non-drinker | 16.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 9.2 |
Rare drinker | 33.1 | 29.1 | 24.1 | 24.7 | 21.7 |
Low-risk drinkera | 42.5 | 53.4 | 60.1 | 58.3 | 63.7 |
Risky/high-risk drinkera | 8.0 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
Changes from age 47–52 to age 56–61 | |||||
Area of residence | |||||
No change | 90.8 | 90.2 | 89.4 | 90.2 | 89.7 |
Country–city | 5.9 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 7.0 | 5.8 |
City–country | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 4.5 |
Marital status | |||||
No change | 88.1 | 89.2 | 88.7 | 88.5 | 90.5 |
Not–married | 3.4 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 2.4 |
Married–not | 8.5 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 7.1 |
Ability to manage on income | |||||
No change | 71.3 | 69.8 | 72.6 | 69.9 | 73.8 |
Difficult–easy | 16.1 | 19.2 | 18.1 | 17.5 | 16.6 |
Easy–difficult | 12.7 | 11.1 | 9.4 | 12.7 | 9.7 |
Employment status | |||||
No change | 56.2 | 54.3 | 52.5 | 55.0 | 51.1 |
Worked–no work | 30.3 | 29.5 | 31.7 | 24.6 | 32.8 |
No work–worked | 13.5 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 20.3 | 16.0 |
Living with children age < 18 | |||||
No change | 72.6 | 68.5 | 70.3 | 72.1 | 73.5 |
Lived with–not | 24.9 | 30.1 | 28.9 | 25.6 | 25.2 |
Not–lived with | 2.4 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 1.3 |
Provides care for grandchildren | |||||
No change | 52.2 | 50.7 | 51.2 | 50.0 | 53.0 |
Decreased | 16.8 | 15.9 | 15.0 | 15.9 | 13.8 |
Increased | 31.1 | 33.5 | 33.8 | 34.1 | 33.2 |
Provides care for others | |||||
No change | 60.7 | 61.4 | 61.1 | 58.4 | 61.0 |
Decreased | 20.1 | 19.4 | 18.9 | 23.0 | 19.7 |
Increased | 19.3 | 19.2 | 20.0 | 18.6 | 19.3 |
BMI | |||||
No change | 85.6 | 82.6 | 83.5 | 81.3 | 84.3 |
Normal/overweight–obese | 11.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 15.0 | 10.6 |
Obese–normal/overweight | 2.6 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 5.1 |
Physical healthb | |||||
No change | 46.3 | 37.1 | 39.0 | 35.7 | 41.0 |
Lower–higher | 31.2 | 42.1 | 44.1 | 43.6 | 40.2 |
Higher–lower | 22.4 | 20.8 | 17.0 | 20.6 | 18.8 |
Mental healthb | |||||
No change | 42.6 | 41.2 | 43.4 | 41.2 | 41.1 |
Lower–higher | 27.6 | 29.2 | 28.0 | 27.6 | 32.6 |
Higher–lower | 29.8 | 29.5 | 28.6 | 31.1 | 26.4 |
Smoking status | |||||
No change | 90.1 | 91.5 | 91.7 | 92.1 | 93.0 |
Not–smoking | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
Smoking–not | 8.8 | 7.6 | 7.3 | 7.1 | 6.3 |
Alcohol status | |||||
No change | 68.0 | 72.2 | 75.0 | 72.1 | 75.6 |
Increased | 15.6 | 16.2 | 15.2 | 13.8 | 14.6 |
Decreased | 16.4 | 11.6 | 9.8 | 14.0 | 9.8 |