The correlation between sports participation and quality of life of athletes and non-athletes elderly

Introduction: The rapid growth of the elderly population and the sedentary and mechanical lifestyle of the present age, on the other hand, double the physical, psychological, social and economic problems in old age and affect the quality of life of individuals. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between physical activity and various dimensions of quality of life in the elderly. Method: The present study is descriptive and cohort type. 240 elderly people of Lahijan county were selected as a sample in 2021 through sports delegations and the presence location of non-athlete elderly people. Descriptive tests, independent groups t-test, Spearman correlation coefficient and Mann-Whitney U test were used and all statistical operations were performed using SPSS software version 23. Results: The results showed that the mean of physical health variables in active elderly was 22.98 and inactive 19.88, environmental in active elderly was 25.42 and inactive was 22.6, psychological state of active elderly was 20.79 and inactive was 17.6 and the quality of life of active elderly is 79.05 and inactive is 67.53. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the quality of life of active and inactive elderly (P˂0.01). Conclusion: It is suggested that health planning managers try to remove barriers, strengthen the motivation of the elderly to participate in sports, and focus their attention on improving the quality of life of the elderly.