More midlife physical activity leads to more
old-age mobility
Newswise — More physical activity in midlife translates to more
physical mobility in old age, researchers conclude in a new study of
older adults living in the Chianti region of Italy.
“Previous studies have
shown that physical activity in midlife can help prevent a
variety of chronic diseases,” said lead investigator Kushang
Patel, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Aging in
Bethesda, Md. “Our study shows that greater physical
activity in your 30s, 40s and 50s has beneficial effects
well into the future by helping us maintain our ability to
walk and function at older ages.”
The study was reported in the
September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The investigators gathered and
analyzed data from a population-based survey conducted from 1998 to
2000, of 1155 adults age 65 years and older. Slightly more women
participated than men. Average age was 74.8 years, peaking at an
impressive 102 years. Average BMI was 27.5., which is considered
overweight.
The participants were asked to
recall physical activity levels in midlife, before undergoing
mobility testing and a medical examination.
The investigators used two
objective measures of present mobility as a function of past
physical activity, the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and
the ability to walk 400 meters (or 437 yards).
The most prevalent category of
physical activity in midlife — divided into ages 20 to 40 and 40 to
60 — was “moderate” for both men and women, although the proportion
of men reporting more intense physical activity levels in midlife
was higher than among women.
As expected, physical activity in
the past year was lower than levels reported for midlife.
The researchers found that people
with higher levels of physical activity in midlife were
significantly more likely to achieve a higher SPPB score than those
who had been less physically active.
In addition, failure to complete
the 400-meter walk test was significantly less likely among
physically active men and very active men when compared to their
less-active peers.
“Specifically, higher levels of
physical activity were associated with better lower-extremity
function (SPPB) in both genders, but the ability to walk 400 meters
was associated only with past physical activity in men and not in
women,” the authors found.
The midlife/old-age activity
associations held after adjustment for demographic factors, medical
conditions and physiologic impairments.
"It has long been suggested that
regular physical activity plays an important role in protecting an
individual against the disabling process,” said Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko,
Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology and community health at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “However, relatively
little is known about the time course of physical activity’s impact
on mobility and subsequent disablement….The study underscores the
importance of current public health recommendations.”
Adults are urged to achieve a
minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity of
most days of the week, Chodzko-Zajko said.
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