Abstract

Background: The adverse health consequences associated with being physically inactive include the increased risk of various diseases such as diabetes, breast and colon cancers, stroke, hypertension, and coronary heart disease. Physical Activity (PA) has been shown to improve general health and Quality of Life (QoL) across diverse population.

Objective: This study assessed the relationship between PA level and QoL of hospital staff participating in workplace-based fitness program and non-participating members of staff

Methods: The comparative study recruited 56 staff of Federal Medical Center, Owo, Nigeria. 28 were those that regularly participated in the hospital-based weekly aerobic/sports activities in the institution while 28 were nonparticipants in the weekly exercise program. Data was obtained using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Quality of Life Bref (QoL-Bref) Questionnaire.

Results: The result shows a significant difference in the Moderate level of physical activity between sports’ participating and non-sports’ participating respondents (P<0.05), while, there was no significant difference in the Low, High and Overall Physical Activity level between the two groups. The result also showed a significant difference in all the domains of quality of life between sports’ participating and non-sports’ participating respondents (p<0.05). Similarly, there was a significant difference in the overall quality of life between sports’ participating and non-sports’ participating respondents (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Participation in workplace-based aerobic exercises does not significantly affect the overall physical activity level but have a positive significant effect on the quality of life of participants.

Keywords: Sports participation; Physical activity; Quality of life