The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of physical inactivity and identify the predictors for low physical activity among community-dwelling older persons living in Malaysia in 3 years follow-up. In this prospective study, physical activity levels were measured using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly. The arbitrary cutoff for Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly in this study was ≤70.9 for low and >141 for high physical activity levels. Out of the 955 physically active participants at baseline, 555 of them (mean [SD] age 68.82 [4.92] years) were successfully followed up to 3 years. Cumulative incidence of being physically inactive was 21% with rate of 7 per 100 person-years. It was found that being older (<.001), from Malay ethnic group (<.05), smokers (<.01), having lower gait speed (<.001), and lower cognitive status (<.05) were predictors for physical inactivity among Malaysian community-dwelling older persons in 3 years follow-up. These factors should be taken into consideration when planning for intervention and promotion strategies to increase physical activity levels among Malaysian older persons.

本研究的目的是在 3 年的随访中确定居住在马来西亚的社区老年人中缺乏身体活动的发生率并确定低身体活动的预测因素。在这项前瞻性研究中，身体活动水平是使用老年人身体活动量表测量的。本研究中老年人体力活动量表的任意截断值对于低体力活动水平≤70.9，对于高体力活动水平>141。在基线的 955 名身体活跃参与者中，其中 555 名（平均 [ SD] 年龄 68.82 [4.92] 岁）成功随访至 3 年。缺乏身体活动的累积发生率为 21%，比率为每 100 人年 7 人。结果发现，年龄较大 (<.001)、来自马来族群 (<.05)、吸烟者 (<.01)、步速较慢 (<.001) 和认知状态较低 (<.05) 是预测因素在 3 年的随访中，马来西亚社区老年人缺乏身体活动。在规划干预和促进策略以提高马来西亚老年人的身体活动水平时，应考虑这些因素。