title: Subjective well-being in Swedish active seniors and its relationship with physical activity and commonly available biomarkers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physical activity is claimed to be related to well-being and to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the possible associations of well-being with physical activity and biomarkers of somatic health were studied in a sample of Swedish active seniors to determine the strength of these associations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and eighty-nine community-dwelling senior citizens (127 men and 262 women) of mean age 74 ± 5 years were recruited for this cross-sectional population study. Serum samples were analyzed for lipoproteins and markers of inflammation. The Psychological General Well-Being (PGWB) index was used to measure subjective well-being. Physical activity was assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire modified for the elderly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 50% of men and women rated their physical activity as high; in the women, there was a significant difference between the age groups (younger and older than the median age [median =74.1 years], respectively). The mean PGWB index indicates a high degree of subjective well-being in this group of Swedish seniors. Of the PGWB subdimensions, general health had the strongest positive relationship with physical activity (r (2)=5.4%). For the subdimensions of depressed mood, positive well-being, vitality, and PGWB index, physical activity had an r (2) ≤ 4%, while the contributions of sex, age, and biomarkers were minor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have estimated the contribution of physical activity to the variance of subjective well-being in active seniors. Physical activity appears to play a greater role as a determinant of subjective well-being than do biomarkers of somatic health, especially in females, but most of the variance remained unaccounted for by the studied variables.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine/Clinical Chemistry, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden ; School of Health and Medical Science, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lovisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Medical Science, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hurtig-Wennlöf
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biosciences/Clinical Chemistry, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Torbjörn K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Nilsson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: biomarkers; physical activity; subjective well-being
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