Abstract

SILVA, Adenice de Omena  and  CAVALCANTE NETO, Jorge Lopes. Association between levels of physical activity and common mental disorder in university students. Motri. [online]. 2014, vol.10, n.1, pp.49-59. ISSN 1646-107X.  https://doi.org/10.6063/motricidade.10(1).2125.

This study aimed to investigate the association between physical activity level (PAL) and common mental disorders (CMD) in students of health programs at a federal university (UFAL). The cross-sectional study comprised a sample of 220 students of the first two and last two periods of each program (65.9% women; 34.1% men). We used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Self - Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20), and sociodemographic questionnaire. The odds ratios were calculated (OR: IC95%, p< 0.05). It was verified a positive CMD classification in 43.2% of the sample. A higher percentage of inactive students with TMC (67.4%) than physically active students (32.6%) was observed, with significant risk (OR= 3.202, IC95%: 1.83−5.60). Undergraduate students in the first periods were more active (55.3%) compared to counterparts (41.5%), with a significant protective factor (OR= 0.575, IC95%: 0.337−0.980). Pharmacy had a higher prevalence of TMC (24.20%) and Nutrition had the lowest (9.50%). Pharmacy had a higher prevalence of physically active students (68.40%), while Nursing had a higher prevalence of inactive students (58.30%). It was observed that physically inactive students had three times more chance to develop TMC when compared with physically active students, showing that graduation can be a period of risk for the university, whether due to various stressors, lack of healthy habits, poor and/or inadequate practice of physical activity during this period.

Keywords : physical activity; common mental disorders; mental health; college students.

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