Globally, approximately one out of four adults (27.5%) does not fulfill the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for Physical Activity (PA) 1, 2. Ensuring a safe environment, facilitating accessibility and availability of low-cost exercise facilities, improving road and traffic conditions, and providing appropriate mental health counseling may help to mitigate physical activity barriers. Significant associations between the perceived physical activity scores and gender, family type, occupation, income, BMI, anxiety, and depression were obtained. Mental health status reported mild to extremely severe levels of depression (32%), anxiety (47%), and stress (42.50%), respectively. Over half of the respondents stated that lack of time, facilities, and expenses hinder physical activity. Poor traffic and construction work near the road (60.30%) was seen as the most significant barrier to physical activity. Among the respondents, 68.50% were male, half of them were married, 68.0% belonged to nuclear families, 48.0% completed graduate level education, 34.25% were service holders, one-third of the respondent's working hours were 6–8 h, and 19.50% belongs to the overweight and obese groups. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant for hypothesis testing. Five quantiles were used: the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th. Quantile regression analysis was applied to model the physical activity barrier scores depending on several covariates. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to check the normality of the perceived physical activity scores. Descriptive statistics were applied to narrate the baseline characteristics of the respondents.

The DASS-21 scale assessed the mental health status of the study participants. Questionnaires about perceived physical activity barriers were developed based on previously published literature. Twenty municipal wards were randomly selected from three cities, followed by a convenient selection of the study participants from each ward. This study aimed to determine the perceived barriers to maintaining physical activity among adults in three major cities of Bangladesh and their association with mental health status. This is a cross-sectional study where 400 participants were selected using a multistage sampling technique. Insufficient physical activity and unhealthy lifestyle preferences have been significant concerns for decades.

Barriers to physical activity