Factors associated with frequent physical activity among United States adults with asthma

Objective: This study investigated factors associated with frequent moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity among United States (US) adults with asthma. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included US adults (≥18 years) with asthma in the 2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data. Logistic regression models that added sequential groups of variables were used to assess associations between predisposing (age, gender, race), enabling (marital status, poverty level, education level, insurance coverage, employment status), and need (smoking status, co-morbidities, mental health, physical health, functional limitations) factors and doing ≥30 min moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity ≥ five times per week. The alpha level was 0.05. Results: The study included 2,410 individuals, of which 46.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 44.2–49.6) reported doing frequent moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity. In fully adjusted analyses, the following variables were associated with a greater odds of reporting frequent moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity: men vs. women (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.1–1.7), white vs. other races (AOR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.0–1.6), excellent/very good/good vs. fair/poor physical health (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.7–3.0), and functional limitations no vs. yes (AOR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.3–2.2). Conclusions: The factors identified in this study (gender, race, health status, and limitation status) may be helpful to target interventions to raise awareness and increase physical activity among US adults with asthma. Studies that can demonstrate a temporal relationship are needed to further our understanding of this topic.