Table 2.
Participant characteristics (at survey 2 and survey 8) overall and by patterns of amounts of physical activity (PA) participation
| Characteristics | Total n=11 796 |
Consistently lower level of PA n=2143 |
Consistently some PA n=2147 |
Decreasing PA n=1345 |
Increasing PA n=3540 |
Consistently highly active n=2621 |
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| Survey 2 | Survey 8 | Survey 2 | Survey 8 | Survey 2 | Survey 8 | Survey 2 | Survey 8 | Survey 2 | Survey 8 | Survey 2 | Survey 8 | |
| Age, years, mean (SD) | 49.5 (1.5) | 67.7 (1.5) | 49.5 (1.5) | 67.7 (1.4) | 49.5 (1.5) | 67.7 (1.5) | 49.5 (1.5) | 67.8 (1.5) | 49.5 (1.5) | 67.7 (1.5) | 49.5 (1.4) | 67.8 (1.4) |
| Smoking status, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Never smoker | 6106 (52) | 5335 (45) | 958 (45) | 711 (33) | 1180 (55) | 1041 (48) | 637 (47) | 623 (46) | 1945 (55) | 1699 (48) | 1386 (53) | 1261 (48) |
| Ex-smoker | 2834 (24) | 2620 (22) | 453 (21) | 401 (19) | 456 (21) | 458 (21) | 389 (29) | 379 (28) | 871 (25) | 784 (22) | 665 (25) | 598 (23) |
| Smoker | 1670 (14) | 424 (4) | 461 (22) | 127 (6) | 266 (13) | 68 (3) | 205 (15) | 67 (5) | 417 (11) | 86 (2) | 321 (12) | 66 (3) |
| Missing | 1186 (10) | 3417 (29) | 271 (13) | 904 (42) | 245 (11) | 580 (27) | 114 (8) | 276 (21) | 307 (9) | 971 (27) | 249 (10) | 686 (26) |
| Menopausal Status, n (%)* | ||||||||||||
| Premenopausal | 2569 (22) | – | 386 (18) | – | 468 (22) | – | 276 (21) | – | 808 (23) | – | 631 (24) | – |
| Perimenopausal | 2749 (23) | – | 434 (20) | – | 494 (23) | – | 300 (22) | – | 883 (25) | – | 638 (24) | – |
| Postmenopausal/surgical menopause | 4129 (35) | – | 876 (41) | – | 754 (35) | – | 497 (37) | – | 1143 (32) | – | 859 (33) | – |
| HRT use or OCP use | 1669 (14) | – | 287 (13) | – | 300 (14) | – | 198 (15) | – | 546 (15) | – | 338 (13) | – |
| Missing | 680 (6) | – | 160 (7) | – | 131 (6) | – | 74 (6) | – | 160 (5) | – | 155 (6) | – |
| Education, n (%)† ‡ | ||||||||||||
| No formal education | 1984 (17) | 1868 (16) | 620 (29) | 608 (28) | 370 (17) | 330 (15) | 245 (18) | 229 (17) | 446 (13) | 412 (12) | 303 (12) | 289 (11) |
| School/intermediate certificate/higher school/ leaving certificate | 7987 (68) | 7771 (66) | 1360 (63) | 1354 (63) | 1434 (67) | 1409 (66) | 933 (69) | 911 (68) | 2417 (68) | 2338 (66) | 1843 (70) | 1759 (67) |
| University degrees or above | 1725 (15) | 2123 (18) | 142 (7) | 170 (8) | 327 (15) | 405 (19) | 155 (12) | 203 (15) | 649 (18) | 779 (22) | 452 (17) | 566 (22) |
| Missing | 100 (1) | 34 (0.3) | 21 (1) | 11 (0.5) | 16 (1) | * | 12 (1) | * | 28 (1) | 11 (0.3) | 23 (1) | * |
| Ability to manage income, n (%)‡ | ||||||||||||
| Impossible | 206 (2) | 124 (1) | 73 (3) | 42 (2) | 39 (2) | 28 (1) | 25 (2) | 11 (1) | 48 (1) | 23 (1) | 21 (1) | 20 (1) |
| Always difficult | 1323 (11) | 639 (5) | 350 (16) | 192 (9) | 222 (10) | 118 (6) | 168 (12) | 113 (8) | 369 (10) | 125 (4) | 214 (8) | 91 (3) |
| Sometimes difficult | 3067 (26) | 1690 (14) | 579 (27) | 313 (15) | 617 (29) | 350 (16) | 375 (28) | 226 (17) | 883 (25) | 479 (14) | 613 (23) | 322 (12) |
| Not too bad | 4340 (37) | 4064 (34) | 664 (31) | 525 (25) | 778 (36) | 760 (35) | 481 (36) | 522 (39) | 1392 (39) | 1299 (37) | 1025 (39) | 958 (37) |
| Easy | 1632 (14) | 1842 (16) | 194 (9) | 162 (8) | 243 (11) | 305 (14) | 174 (13) | 192 (14) | 532 (15) | 640 (18) | 489 (19) | 543 (21) |
| Missing | 1228 (10) | 3437(29) | 283 (13) | 909 (42) | 248 (12) | 586 (27) | 122 (9) | 281 (21) | 316 (9) | 974 (28) | 259 (10) | 687 (26) |
| Location (ARIA+), n (%)† ‡ | ||||||||||||
| Major cities | 3938 (33) | 3450 (29) | 652 (30) | 444 (21) | 712 (33) | 661 (31) | 415 (31) | 398 (30) | 1285 (36) | 1135 (32) | 874 (33) | 812 (31) |
| Inner regional | 4770 (40) | 3570 (30) | 852 (40) | 555 (26) | 872 (41) | 659 (31) | 541 (40) | 449 (33) | 1371 (39) | 1063 (30) | 1134 (43) | 844 (32) |
| Outer regional, remote and very remote | 3087 (26) | 1813 (15) | 639 (30) | 333 (16) | 563 (26) | 349 (16 | 389 (29) | 272 (20) | 884 (25) | 505 (14) | 612 (23) | 354 (14) |
| Missing | * | 2963 (25) | * | 811 (38) | * | 478 (22) | * | 226 (17) | * | 837 (24) | * | 611 (23) |
| Body mass index, n (%)‡ | ||||||||||||
| <18.5 kg/m2 | 146 (1) | 116 (1) | 21 (1) | 12 (1) | 22 (1) | 21 (1) | 13 (1) | 12 (1) | 43 (1) | 37 (1) | 47 (2) | 34 (1) |
| ≥18.5 to <25 kg/m2 | 5247 (44) | 2934 (25) | 648 (30) | 251 (12) | 838 (39) | 444 (21) | 575 (43) | 304 (23) | 1750 (49) | 1015 (29) | 1436 (55) | 920 (35) |
| ≥25 to <25 kg/m2 | 3430 (29) | 2811 (24) | 620 (29) | 354 (17) | 640 (30) | 533 (25) | 420 (31) | 353 (26) | 1058 (30) | 947 (27) | 692 (26) | 624 (24) |
| ≥30 kg/m2 | 2211 (19) | 2581 (22) | 645 (30) | 607 (28) | 494 (23) | 601 (28) | 260 (19) | 397 (30) | 504 (14) | 607 (17) | 308 (12) | 369 (14) |
| Missing | 762 (6) | 3354 (28) | 209 (10) | 919 (43) | 153 (7) | 548 (26) | 77 (6) | 279 (21) | 185 (5) | 934 (26) | 138 (5) | 674 (26) |
| Number of health conditions, n (%)‡ | ||||||||||||
| Nil | 3934 (33) | 2541 (22) | 634 (30) | 284 (13) | 650 (30) | 426 (20) | 447 (33) | 282 (21) | 1241 (35) | 844 (24) | 962 (37) | 705 (27) |
| 1 | 3501 (30) | 2758 (23) | 579 (27) | 367 (17) | 629 (29) | 536 (25) | 383 (28) | 330 (25) | 1113 (31) | 865 (24) | 797 (30) | 660 (25) |
| 2 | 2079 (18) | 1737 (15) | 410 (19) | 267 (12) | 413 (19) | 344 (16) | 250 (19) | 240 (18) | 576 (16) | 512 (14) | 430 (16) | 374 (14) |
| ≥3 | 1651 (14) | 1421 (12) | 373 (17) | 341 (17) | 333 (16) | 278 (13) | 198 (15) | 231 (17) | 457 (14) | 365 (11) | 290 (12) | 206 (8) |
| Missing | 631 (5) | 3339 (28) | 147 (7) | 884 (41) | 122 (6) | 563 (26) | 67 (5) | 262 (19) | 153 (4) | 954 (27) | 142 (5) | 676 (26) |
| Report of poor memory, n (%)§ | ||||||||||||
| Never/rarely | – | 4948 (42) | – | 656 (31) | – | 870 (41) | – | 602 (45) | – | 1599 (45) | – | 1221 (47) |
| Sometimes/often | – | 3458 (29) | – | 591 (28) | – | 704 (33) | – | 471 (35) | – | 972 (27) | – | 720 (27) |
| Missing | – | 3390 (29) | – | 896 (42) | – | 573 (27) | – | 272 (20) | – | 969 (27) | – | 680 (26) |
| Perceived stress score, mean (SD)‡ ¶ | 0.62 (0.50) | 0.48 (0.41) | 0.69 (0.55) | 0.58 (0.49) | 0.64 (0.50) | 0.51 (0.41) | 0.63 (0.50) | 0.52 (0.43) | 0.59 (0.48) | 0.45 (0.37) | 0.56 (0.47) | 0.43 (0.39) |
| SF-36 Physical function, mean (SD)** | 85 (18) | 77 (22) | 76 (24) | 59 (27) | 83 (18) | 73 (21) | 85 (17) | 71 (23) | 87 (15) | 82 (16) | 90 (14) | 85 (16) |
| SF-36 Mental Health, mean (SD)†† | 74 (18) | 78 (17) | 69 (20) | 71 (20) | 72 (18) | 76 (16) | 74 (18) | 75 (18) | 75 (17) | 80 (15) | 78 (16) | 81 (14) |
Participant characteristics of each cluster in the five-cluster model were described using survey 2 (1998) and survey 8 (2016) in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH).
Mean (SD) was used for continuous variables and n (%) for categorical variables.
*Menopausal status data not available in survey 8.
†For participants confidentiality, missing data with a small sample size (n<10) are presented with *.
‡Variables identified from the directed acyclic graph as potential confounders.
§Participants described whether they had reported poor memory in the past 12 months.
¶Stress score measured with the ALSWH perceived stress scale was presented according to the data available (sample size included from left to right column: n=10 622; n=8410; n=1875; n=1245; n=1908; n=1572; n=1229; n=1077; n=3,241; n=2578; n=2369; n=1938).
**SF-36 Physical function was presented according to the data available (sample size included from left to right column SF-36 Physical function: n=11 096; n=8421; n=1982; n=1248; n=2016; n=1580; n=1270; n=1076; n=3367; n=2581; n=2461; n=1938).
††SF-36 Mental Health measured was presented according to the data available (sample size included from left to right column SF-36 Mental Health: n=11 131; n=8421; n=1992; n=1244; n=2020; n=1579; n=1276; n=1079; n=3377; n=2581; n=2466; n=1938).
ARIA, Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia;HRT, hormone replacement therapy; OCP, oral contraceptive; PA, physical activity; SF-36, Short Form-36.