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| |  Physical Activity Associated With Healthier Aging, Mentally and Physically CHICAGO -- January 25, 2010 -- Physical activity appears to be associated with a reduced risk or slower progression of several age-related conditions as well as improvements in overall health in older age, according to a commentary and 4 articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Exercise has previously been linked to beneficial effects on arthritis, falls and fractures, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. “Regular physical activity has also been associated with greater longevity as well as reduced risk of physical disability and dependence, the most important health outcome, even more than death, for most older people,” wrote Jeff Williamson, M.D, and Marco Pahor, MD, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, in a commentary. Four new studies published in this issue -- outlined below -- “move the scientific enterprise in this area further along the path toward the goal of understanding the full range of important aging-related outcomes for which exercise has a clinically relevant impact.” In the first article, Qi Sun, MD, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues analysed data from 13,535 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study. The women reported their physical activity levels in 1986, at an average age of 60 years. Among those who had survived to age 70 or older as of 1995 to 2001, those who had higher levels of physical activity at the beginning of the study were less likely to have chronic diseases, heart surgery or any physical, cognitive or mental impairments. “Since the American population is aging rapidly and nearly a quarter of Americans do not engage in any leisure-time activity, our findings appear to support federal guidelines regarding physical activity to promote health among older people and further emphasise the potential of activity to enhance overall health and well-being with aging,” the authors concluded. “The notion that physical activity can promote successful survival rather than simply extend the lifespan may provide particularly strong motivation for initiating activity.” In the second article, Teresa Liu-Ambrose, PhD, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, and colleagues studied 155 women aged 65 to 75 years. Participants were randomly assigned to participate in resistance training once (54 women) or twice (52 women) weekly, whereas 49 women in a control group participated in twice-weekly balance and tone training. After 1 year, women in both resistance training groups significantly improved their scores on tests of selective attention and conflict resolution. The program simultaneously improved muscular function in the women. “This has important clinical implications because cognitive impairment is a major health problem that currently lacks a clearly effective pharmaceutical therapy and because resistance training is not widely adopted by seniors,” the authors wrote. In the third article, Thorleif Etgen, MD, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany, and colleagues examined physical activity and cognitive function in 3,903 participants aged older than 55 years from southern Bavaria, Germany between 2001 and 2003. At the beginning of the study, 418 participants (10.7%) had cognitive impairment. After 2 years, 207 (5.9%) of the remaining 3,485 unimpaired study participants developed cognitive impairment. “The incidence of new cognitive impairment among participants with no, moderate, and high activity at baseline was 13.9%, 6.7%, and 5.1%, respectively,” the authors wrote. “Future large randomised controlled intervention trials assessing the quantity and quality of physical activity that is required to prevent or delay a decline in cognitive function are recommended,” they concluded. In the fourth article, Wolfgang Kemmler, PhD, Freidrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, and colleagues studied a total of 246 older women. Half of the women exercised 4 days per week with special emphasis on intensity while the other half participated in a wellness program that focused on well-being. Among the 227 women who completed the study, the 115 who exercised had higher bone density in their spine and hip, and also had a 66% reduced rate of falls. Fractures due to falls were twice as common in the controls versus the exercise group (12 vs 6). However, the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease -- assessed using the Framingham Risk Calculator -- decreased in both groups and did not differ between the two. “Because this training regimen can be easily adopted by other institutions and health care providers, a broad implementation of this program is feasible,” the authors concluded.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine
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