Physical inactivity, gender and culture in Arab countries: a systematic assessment of the literature

BMC Public Health

Table 6 Factors associated with physical inactivity in Arab countries

	Statistical association with physical inactivity
	Positive	Negative	Other associations
Age^a	[13, 29, 35, 36, 38, 39, 69, 73, 83, 92, 100, 135, 143, 153, 176, 218, 221, 231]	[44, 71, 142]	U shape [63, 202] Curvilinear [41]
Marital status	[29, 37, 38, 41, 105, 181, 232]	[42, 79, 221]
Educational level^a,b	[35, 54]	[30, 33, 38, 41, 42, 46, 92, 100, 148, 150, 171, 218, 231, 232]	No effect [34, 69, 93]
Employment^a	[54, 150]	[30, 33, 36, 92, 183, 232]
SES^a,c	[12, 35, 46, 75, 105, 232]	[42, 44, 54, 92, 181]	U shape [83]
Urban residence	[35, 36, 43, 77, 150]
Consuming fruits/vegetables		[33]
Smoking^a	[29,30,31,32]	[225]
Alcohol	[30]
Screen time^d	[21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]
Overweight/ Obesity^e	[22, 24, 29, 33, 35, 37,38,39]	[30, 40,41,42]	No effect [43]
Chronic medical conditions^a	[29, 34,35,36]
Parity	[107]

^aThe direction of the association between physical inactivity and some variables was not specified in other studies: age [15, 93, 140, 147, 161], educational level [39, 151], employment [29, 37], SES [26, 31, 34, 39, 140], smoking [30], overweight/obesity [15], and chronic medical conditions [28]
^bEducation categorized as iliterate, primary, intermediate, secondary,and university
^cSocio-economic status (SES): SES score, resources, income, housing type, wealth, Human Development Index, schooling type, domestic help, car ownership
^dScreen time: Television viewing, computer using, video gaming
^eThe association between underweight and physical inactivity was mentioned in one study and showed a positive association

ISSN: 1471-2458