Objective: Physical activity (PA) is a key component in the prevention and non-pharmacological management of hypertension (HT). According to the results of the PolSenior2 (PS2) survey, up to 75% of Poles aged 60 years and older have hypertension. This study aimed to assess physical activity (PA) among Polish adults aged 60–89 years treated for hypertension (HT), compared with those without HT. Design and method: The national cross-sectional survey PolSenior2 was performed in 2019 in a representative sample of elderly subjects in Poland. Blood pressure (BP) was measured during two separate visits and HT was diagnosed according to ESH criteria. In all participants, multimorbidity was defined as the co-occurrence of two or more major conditions, and frailty syndrome (FS) was assessed using the Fried frailty phenotype. Respondents rated their health status on a scale from 1 to 10 and completed a questionnaire on the type and intensity of PA during the previous 12 months. The percentage of subjects meeting the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommendations for PA in older adults was calculated. Results: Subjects with frailty syndrome (with HT and without HT) represented a total of 11.6% of all subjects. They were excluded from the analyses because they had lower AF regardless of age. The final sample consisted of 1511 men (M) and 1543 women (W) diagnosed with HT, as well as 446 M and 485 W without HT. Among all patients with HT, 81% were aware of the disease. Table 1 shows the percentages of respondents meeting ACSM criteria for satisfactory PA, as well as mean BMI, self-rated health, and multimorbidity scores, weighted to the demographic structure of Poles aged 60–89 years.Conclusions: Hypertensive patients did not differ from individuals without hypertension (HT) in terms of physical activity. Considering their higher BMI, substantially greater multimorbidity burden, and worse self-rated health status compared with individuals without HT, these results can be considered relatively satisfactory. However, among women, the low proportion of patients with hypertension (HT) meeting ACSM recommendations indicates substantial room for improvement, necessitating better patient education and strengthened public health measures.
Zdrojewska et al. (Fri,) studied this question.