Correlates of physical activity counseling by health providers to patients with diabetes and hypertension attended by the Family Health Strategy in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine correlates of physical activity (PA) counseling by health providers of the Brazilian primary care delivery system, for hypertensive and diabetic subjects, as well as correlates of actual leisure-time PA of these subjects.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in random samples of 785 hypertensive and 822 diabetic subjects, in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. Relationships between PA counseling and leisure-time PA and explanatory variables were sought through multiple logistic regressions.

RESULTS: PA counseling had been received by 59.4% of the diabetic and 53.0% of the hypertensive subjects; around 30% of the diabetic and the hypertensive subjects declared having leisure-time PA. After adjustment, factors associated with PA counseling for diabetic subjects were: female gender, formal schooling, hypertension, obesity; for hypertensive subjects: being on a weight-loss diet, age between 60 and 74 and over 75. For both subject groups, leisure-time PA was more frequent when they lived in a medium-sized municipality, were female, aged between 60 and 75, and on a weight-loss diet.

CONCLUSION: PA counseling appeared restricted to subjects with excess weight and/or cardiovascular risk factors when it should be directed to all subjects with hypertension or diabetes.