Abstract
Physical activity (PA) for the active aging becomes essential policy for health among the global
countries, as well as Thailand. Thus, the database of PA policy is essential to accurately identify direction
of formulating master plan to promote physical activity for active aging. The aims of this study were to:
1) systematic review the physical activity policy for active aging, and 2) recommend physical activity
policy to promote active aging. A systematic review was conducted on PA research articles through 12
bibliographic international electronic databases and Thai articles were identified through 5 reference lists
published during 2008-2018. Experts and researchers screened the selected papers independently.
The result showed that out of 3,239 screened articles, a total of 315 studies were included in the
review. Most studies (35.2%) were for the built environment (BE), 34.3% for the PA intervention, 20.0%
for the active transportation (AT), and 10.5% the accessibility towards PA resources. According to the
systematic review, recommendations were as follows. 1) The government and business organizations as
well as older adults’ club and school should develop 6 PA intervention programs, namely, home-based,
community-based, group-based, sedentary-based, noncommunicable disease-based, and smart phone
application-based PA programs engaging in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous PA.
2) The Ministry of Transportation should arrange AT to support independent mobility for active aging
under the safe and flexible circumstances relevant to their needs. 3) The government and business
sectors should develop built-environment policy to promote PA for older adults’ better lifestyle in all
levels of social status with safety. 4) The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Ministry of Social
Development and Human Security as well as academic institutions should provide an opportunity and
capability to older adults to access PA knowledge and information via smartphone and applications.
Moreover, due to the lack of study regarding the impact of the 4 PA policies, further studies should focus
more on the impact of PA policy, particularly on AT system and BE, as well as health outcome in active
aging. The evidence from this study should be a basis for reformulation of future national elderly policy
directions.
