Table 2.

Descriptive summary of correlate studies of physical activity

Author (Year)	Country	Area	Age, range in years and/or mean (SD)	Sample Size	Participants	Correlate Measure	Outcome Measure	By What Measure is the Correlate Evaluated	Main Findings
Sayegh et al (2016)14	Qatar	‐	18‐64, 37.4 (11.7)	549	Qatari females	Sociodemographic factors “age”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Results showed that middle‐aged adult females (45‐64 y) were more active, with a daily average of more than 7000 steps, compared with less than 5000 steps per day “sedentary” and 5000‐7499 steps per day “low active” among age groups 18‐24 y and 25‐44 y, respectively.
Al‐Nozha et al (2007)16	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	30‐70, 46.3 (11.50)	17 395	Saudis (8297 males and 9098 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity “inactivity”	National Epidemiological Health Survey by researcher	There were significantly more inactive females (98.1%) than males (93.9%). Inactivity prevalence increased with increasing age category, especially in males, and decreased with increasing education levels. Inactivity was the highest in the central region and the lowest in the southern region of Saudi Arabia.
AlAteeq and AlArawi (2014)18	Saudi Arabia	Urban	39.2 (8.91)	322	Clinicians (127 males and 195 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender” and dietary habits	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	There was no significant relation between age and physical activity level. Higher levels of physical activity were associated with better dietary habits. Females had higher physical activity levels than males. Nurses had higher physical activity levels than other clinicians.
Almajwal (2015)23	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18 and older	362	Non‐Saudi female nurses	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Being married, working shift duty, and higher education level were predictors of low physical activity.
Khalaf et al (2013)25	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	20.4 (1.50)	663	Female university students	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Low maternal level of education, being married, and living far from parks were related to low physical activity.
Samara et al (2015)26	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18‐22, 20 (0.70)	94	Female university students	Sociodemographic factors “gender,” internal factors, external factors, and obesity “BMI”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	High sedentary behaviour was significantly associated with high BMI. Low self‐efficacy was associated with low physical activity. Low physical activity was associated with lack of facilities and lack of encouragement.
Al‐Otaibi (2013)28	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	20‐56	242	Saudis (118 males and 124 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	More males than females were physically active. More males than females were already physically active for more than 6 mo (ie, in the maintenance phase). Females had more external barriers to and less self‐efficacy for physical activity than males.
Amin et al (2011)81	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐64, 32.7 (9.80)	2176	Saudis (1209 males and 967 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administrated survey	Being female, being older, living in an urban residence, having a higher educational, and occupational status were related to less physical activity. Low PA was associated with societal restrictions and traditions, especially among women and older age groups. Hot weather, lack of facilities, and time were the main associated barriers to low physical activity.
Al‐Rafaee and Al‐Hazzaa (2001)82	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	19 and older	1333	Saudi males	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Increased age was associated with inactivity; the middle age group was the least active. Physical activity was lower among those who were married, worked in the private sector, worked two shifts, were less well educated, or who had only 1 d off in the week.
Khalaf et al (2015)83	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	20.4 (1.50)	663	Female university students	Ideal body image	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	There was positive association between high physical activity levels and the desire to be thinner.
Al Dokhi and Habib (2013)34	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐72, 36.91 (15.22)	411	Saudis (300 males and 111 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	The prevalence of low physical activity was higher in females compared with males.
Awadalla et al (2014)84	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	17‐25, 20.1 (1.40)	1257	University students (426 males and 831 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Females were less likely to engage in vigorous physical activity than males. Females performed walking activities more frequently than males. Males had more inactive leisure time than females. Non‐membership in sports clubs was related to a greater risk of physical inactivity. Among students at health colleges, colleges of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and applied medical science, students at the college of medicine were more likely to be physically inactive, while students of dentistry were the least likely to be physically inactive. Increased age, higher study level, high parental education/job status, and family income were no significant predictors of physical inactivity.
Albawardi et al (2016)40	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18‐58	420	Saudi females working in office jobs	Sociodemographic and psychosocial factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + height and weight were measured	Females who work seven or more hours per day and do not have children and work in the private sector were less physically active. Social support and general self‐efficacy were not associated with the level of physical activity. Health reasons and maintaining weight were the most important factors associated with high PA.
Albawardi et al (2017)85	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐60	420	Saudi females working in office jobs	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity “sitting time”	Self‐administered survey	Workday sitting time was related to level of education (increase by 55 min as education level increased), number of children (sitting decreased by approximately 37 min with each additional child), and working in the private sector (sitting time increased by nearly 80 min per day on work days) compared with the public sector. Nonwork day sitting time was related to number of children (sitting decreased by 27 min with each additional child), marital status (being single compared with married increased sitting time by 73 min per day), and living in a small home compared with a medium home (sitting time reduced by 81 min per day).
Mandil et al (2016)86	Saudi Arabia	Urban	24‐65, 33.11 (9.27)	360	Physicians (222 males and 138 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity and sedentary behaviour	Self‐administered survey	Females were more likely to use the internet, than males. Prevalence of physical activity on a daily basis was higher among males (41.6%) than females (16%).
Allafi and Waslien (2014)45	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18‐59, 26 (7.90)	1370	Kuwaiti males and females	Sociodemographic factors “gender and age”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Increasing age was related to reported inactive behaviour patterns. Women (especially overweight women) felt greater discomfort when exercising around others and disliked exercising more than men.
Al Zenki et al (2012)46	Kuwait	Urban + rural	20‐86, M 39.1 (0.90) and F 40.9 (0.70)	1830	Kuwaitis (459 males and 533 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	More males (4.7% ± 1.2%) reported their activity levels as being “very active” than did females (1.3% ± 0.6%).
Al‐Isa (2011)48	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18 and older	787	Kuwaiti university students (378 males and 409 females)	Sociodemographic factors, dental and health check‐up, not desiring a higher degree, having no preferred countries for visiting, and obesity “BMI”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Being female, married, not remembering the last dental and health check‐up, not desiring a higher degree, having no preferred countries for visiting, and obesity were associated with low physical activity.
Musaiger et al (2014)51	Kuwait	Urban + rural	19‐26, 21 (3)	530	University students (203 males and 327 females)	Sociodemographic factors and external factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Men perceived far fewer barriers to physical activity (eg, time and climate) than did females.
Al‐Asi (2003)53	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18 and older	3282	Kuwait oil company employees (2804 males and 478 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Field workers had a higher level of inactivity outside working hours (65%) than did office workers (56%).
Musaiger et al (2015)87	Bahrain	Urban + rural	20.1 (2.00)	642	University students (90 males and 552 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Males (41.6%) were more physically active than females (16%).
Al‐Nakeeb et al (2015)60	Qatar	Urban + rural	18‐25, 21.3 (3.80)	732	University students (320 males and 412 females)	Sociodemographic factors and obesity “BMI”	Physical activity	Self‐administrated survey	The percentage of inactive Qatari students is higher compared with non‐Qatari students. Increased sedentary behaviour and high BMI were associated with low PA.
Borgan et al (2015)61	Bahrain	Urban + rural	30‐69, 45 (10)	152	Physicians (50 males and 102 females)	Screen time	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	There were no significant correlations between increased screen time and lack of physical activity.
Al Riyami et al (2010)62	Oman	Urban + rural	60 and older	2027	Elderlies (982 males and 1045 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Interview + survey by researcher	Active respondent men were more physically active than women.
Mabry et al (2012)64	Oman	Urban + rural	20 and older, 36.3 (12.5)	1335	Omanis (591 males and 744 females)	Sociodemographic factors and dietary habits smoking	Physical (in)activity “leisure inactivity, inactivity at work, transport inactivity, and sitting time”	Self‐administered survey	Transport inactivity increased with increased age among men. Leisure inactivity in men increased with low levels of education, unemployment, and being married. Leisure inactivity in women increased with unemployment and low FV intake. Women aged 40 y or more had higher inactivity levels at work compared with younger ones. Male smokers aged 30‐39 y had higher mean sitting time than their nonsmoking counterparts. Women aged 20 to 29, unemployed women, and men with high educational level had higher mean levels of sitting time.
Mabry et al (2017)88	Oman	Urban	18 and older	2977	Omani (1490 males and 1487 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	The prevalence of physical activity was higher in men compared with women and in younger participants compared with older ones. Physical activity varied significantly by region of residence, with the highest rate in South Batinah and the lowest in Dhofar and Al Wusta. Unmarried men aged 30‐39 y were twice as likely to be physically active and unmarried women aged 40+ y were half as likely to be active as their married counterparts. Unemployed young women (18‐29 y) were less active than employed women. Higher education was significantly associated with leisure physical activity for men (30 y or more) and women (40 y or more).
Mabry et al (2016)89	Oman	Urban	18 and older	2977	Omani adults (1490 males and 1487 females)	Sociodemographic factors + physical activity	Physical activity “sitting time”	Self‐administered survey	The prevalence of prolonged sitting time (7 h/d or more) was higher in older participants (40 y or more) compared with younger ones (less than 40 y) for both genders. Those who were older (40 y or more), married, less well educated, unemployed, and not physically active had higher mean sitting times than their counterparts.
Carter et al (2003)70	Emirates	Urban	19‐27, 22	175	Medical students (30% males and 70% females)	External and internal factors	Physical activity	Self‐administrated survey	Low physical activity was associated with lack of time and motivation.
Rehmani et al (2013)73	Saudi Arabia	Urban	14 and older	1339	Adults living in National Guard housing in the eastern region (769 males and 570 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Physical activity	Self‐administered survey	Men were more physically active than women. Those who were between 25 and 34 y were the most physically active. Participants with more family members were physically less active.