Abstract
Physical activity (PA) is proven to have great benefits to health. Previous studies found that differences
in social determinants of health and environment affect physical activity levels; different policy
interventions are, therefore, required. This study explored the association between physical activity
levels and residential areas in Thailand in different household asset indices. The data were obtained
from the 2015 National Health and Welfare Survey of 113,882 Thai adults aged 15 and above. Descriptive
and analytic statistics were employed in the analysis.
The result showed that urban respondents with higher income tended to have less energy expenditure.
People with the highest income level (Quintile 5) spent the least energy expenditure (1,159 and
1,437 Metabolic Equivalence of Task-minute/week in urban and rural areas, respectively). In contrast, the
poorest (Quintile 1) had the highest energy expenditure (2,182 and 1,921 MET-minute/week in urban and
rural areas, respectively). When analyzed by three PA domains, it was found that rural and poorer
people tended to have higher occupational energy expenditure, whereas urban and richer people had
significant higher recreational energy expenditure. In transportation, urbanites had slightly higher energy
expenditure than rural people.
Our findings will benefit the formulation of the national PA-promotion policies by tailoring physical
and social environments conducive to PA needed for each subgroup according to their socioeconomic
status.
