Sociodemographic determinants of the level of physical activity in residents of eastern Poland

Background Post-industrial societies that benefit from the development of science, technology and subsequent inventions that relieve people of everyday duties, on the one hand, have more free time, but on the other hand face a greater temptation of laziness and lack of physical activity. Common diseases increasingly resulting from limited physical activity (PA) mean that physical activity is no longer just a way to spend free time, but a necessity in the field of health care. This necessity obliges us to undertake research that allows for recognizing factors influencing the level of physical activity in individual societies. Objective The conducted research aimed at identifying sociodemographic factors that would determine the level of physical activity in women and men from the Biała Podlaska district in eastern Poland. Participants The group consisted of 173 adults, including 71 women and 102 men from eastern Poland. Methods The presented research was conducted in the years 2018–2020 as part of the international EUPASMOS Plus project. The collected sociodemographic data of the respondents and the results of physical activity monitoring with the use of the GPAQ questionnaire and the RM42 accelerometer − 24/7 allowed for an analysis of the factors determining the physical activity undertaken by the respondents, as well as the comparison of the obtained data with the use of the above-mentioned tools. Results The results of the research on sociodemographic factors conditioning the physical activity of the examined persons, obtained from the objective tool (Acceleromete RM42) and a subjective one for measuring physical activity (GPAQ questionnaire) showed some discrepancies. However, the established consistency of the research results using the above-mentioned tools allows for formulating the following conclusions: women from the Biała Podlaska district are more active than men. Older people more often undertake PA of lower intensity, giving up high-intensity efforts. The respondents declaring a higher subjective assessment of their health are more physically active. Conclusions The results obtained are varied and depend on the used tool. They indicate an enormous importance of the tool used in the study on physical activity.