Immigration and leisure-time physical inactivity: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between migration status and sedentary leisure-time physical activity status in the city of Malmö, Sweden.
METHODS: The public health survey in 1994 is a cross-sectional study. A total of 5,600 individuals aged 20-80 completed a postal questionnaire. The response rate was 71%. The population was categorized according to country of birth. Multivariate analysis was performed using a logistic regression model to investigate the importance of possible confounders for the differences in sedentary leisure-time physical activity status.
RESULTS: The prevalence of a sedentary leisure-time physical activity status was 18.1% among men and 26.7% among women. The odds ratio of a sedentary leisure-time physical activity status was significantly higher among men born in Arabic-speaking countries, in All other countries, and among women born in Yugoslavia, Poland, Arabic-speaking countries, and the category all other countries', compared to the reference group born in Sweden. The multivariate analysis including age, sex, and education did not alter these results.
CONCLUSION: There were significant ethnic differences in leisure-time physical activity status. This is a CVD risk factor that could be affected by intervention programs aimed at specific ethnic subgroups of the population.