197 Association between physical activity and chronic diseases in the adult population in Slovenia

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the results of the latest European health interview survey (EHIS 2019) to analyze the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the association between them and physical activity (PA) in adults in Slovenia, and to determine the role of socio-economic and other factors. The main hypothesis was that people who achieve the World Health Organization’s recommended physical activity have less diseases than those who do not. The innovative approach was the use of multivariate analysis to examine the correlations between different factors. Methods Data from the EHIS 2019 survey was used. It is a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of adults aged 15 and over, conducted periodically in EU member states. 9900 adults participated in the Slovenian study. Chi-square test was used to assess the statistical difference between the observed outcomes and explanatory variables and binary logistic regression to assess the interdependence of all selected variables. Results People who met PA recommendations had a lower prevalence of NCDs compared to those who did not (36.3% vs. 50.7%, p