Table 4.

Associations between physical activity levels across adulthood and standing balance performance at age 53 years (n=2311)

Physical activity at age	n (%)	Difference in mean ln(standing balance time [s]) (95% CI)
		Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
36 years
Inactive	822 (35.6)	0.00	0.00	0.00
Less active	596 (25.8)	0.10 (0.01, 0.18)	0.05 (−0.03, 0.13)	0.01 (−0.07, 0.09)
Most active	893 (38.6)	0.21 (0.14, 0.28)	0.14 (0.07, 0.21)	0.05 (−0.02, 0.13)
p-valuea		<0.001	0.001	0.35
43 years
Inactive	1166 (50.5)	0.00	0.00	0.00
Less active	553 (23.9)	0.24 (0.16, 0.32)	0.19 (0.12, 0.27)	0.16 (0.08, 0.24)
Most active	592 (25.6)	0.31 (0.23, 0.39)	0.24 (0.16, 0.32)	0.19 (0.11, 0.27)
p-valuea		<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
53 years
Inactive	1092 (47.3)	0.00	0.00	0.00
Less active	435 (18.8)	0.25 (0.16, 0.33)	0.17 (0.09, 0.26)	0.13 (0.04, 0.21)
Most active	784 (33.9)	0.23 (0.16, 0.30)	0.15 (0.08, 0.23)	0.08 (0.01, 0.16)
p-valuea		<0.001	<0.001	0.01

Note: Model 1: adjusted for gender (if no evidence of gender interaction in unadjusted model), current height and weight; Model 2: Model 1 plus adult SEP (own occupation and education), smoking and health problems at age 53 years; Model 3: Model 2 plus physical activity levels at the other two ages. Inactive = no participation in relevant activities; moderately active = participated in relevant activities one to four times: in the previous month at age 36 years, per month at age 43 years, and in the previous 4 weeks at age 53 years; most active = participated in relevant activities five or more times: in the previous month at age 36 years, per month at age 43 years, and in the previous 4 weeks at age 53 years.

^ap-value from likelihood ratio test comparing a model with physical activity at specified age included to a model with physical activity not included