Chronic diseases have a crucial effect on the health-related quality of life for middle-aged and older adults, but physical activity can improve their health — as can using the internet for health-related purposes, found a study published in BMC Public Health.
The authors say it’s vital to promote physical activity and internet use to foster healthy behaviors among older adults who have chronic diseases.
The team evaluated internet usage, physical activity and health status among people with 14 chronic diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, cancer, liver disease, stroke, dementia and heart issues.
Researchers used data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, which included more than 13,000 Chinese adults aged more than 45 years. The average age was almost 62 years old.
Results suggested that the severity of chronic disease significantly negatively predicted both the physical and the mental aspects of health-related quality of life.
Although chronic diseases can interfere with physical activity, the researchers found that some physical activity usually is helpful, at least for the physical component summary, or PCS, of health-related quality of life, but not necessarily for the mental summary component, or MSC.
“Our findings confirm that physical activity partially mediates the relationship between chronic disease and PCS, while it masks the relationship between chronic disease and MCS,” the authors wrote.
Physical activity has been linked with better fitness and reduced risk of disease but also can improve the quality of life in older adults, the data showed.
The authors also found that internet use in older adults with chronic diseases can ease the negative effects of chronic diseases on both PCS and physical activity. This may be because it enables people to search for medical information about their conditions; it also could improve their confidence in using technology and their cognition. Too much internet use, however, could result in less time engaging in physical activity.
