Frailty in older adults is related to an increased risk for poor health outcomes including falls, disability, hospitalization and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the thresholds of a functional fitness associated with frailty for community-dwelling woman aged 65 or older. In this study, the National Fitness Award(NFA) items for elderly were utilized as the physical function and fitness testing for korean elderly women. The total of 444 community-dwelling woman completed the testings. Frailty status was classified by the Japan LTCI system ‘Kihon Checklist’ in the study. The prevalence of the frailty was 19.1% in the study. The frail elderly were older and showed higher obesity index such as weight, body mass index (BMI), percent body fat and waist circumference than the normal elderly. After adjusting for age and BMI which was related to frailty, fitness testing items were compared depending on frailty. As the result, the frail elderly showed significantly lower fitness levels in grip strength, 30-second chair stand test, timed up and go, figure-of-8 walk around two cones, and 2-minute step test than the normal elderly. When the fitness cut-off values were analyzed using the ROC curve, also, grip strength: 34.13%, 30-second chair stand test: 14 reps, timed up and go: 7.09 seconds, figure-of-8 walk around two cones: 30.88 seconds, and 2-minute step test: 93 reps. In addition, based on the cut-off values of each fitness item, the group with a low fitness level showed a 1.86 to 3.09 higher odds ratio of frailty than the group with a high fitness level, even after age and BMI were adjusted. In conclusion, these findings indicate that the fitness cut-off values in this study are fitness levels for preventing frailty of Korean elderly women and there will be a need for a large-scale study including subdivided fitness cut-off values for each age group and targets elderly men as well.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to find out the physical characteristics of Wushu athletes by comparing the differences on the results of physical fitness between the male athletes of the Wushu national team Taolu and the Sanda group. Methods Measurement of basic and professional fitness based on muscle function, targeting 37 men Wushu national team players (24 taolu, 13 Sanda) in the selection and evaluation contests twice in 2018 and 2019. Body composition, isometric muscle strength, flexibility and equilibrium, anaerobic power, and isokinetic muscle strength. The fitness factors were divided into two groups, Taolu and Sanda. Results First, body fat rate of the Sanda athlete group was significantly lower than that of the taolu athlete group (p<.01). Second, in the isometric muscle strength category(back muscle strength, grip strength), the Sanda athlete group had higher muscle strength than Taolu athlete group, but there was a statistically significant difference only in the left grip strength (p<.01). Third, in terms of flexibility and equilibrium, the taolu players were significantly higher in all items(p<.001). Fourth, in the anaerobic power, the taolu athlete group had higher both the peak power and the mean power, and there were a significant differences(peak power: p<.01, mean power: p<.001). Fifth, isokinetic muscle strength was significantly higher in the right knee flexion of the taolu athlete group (p<.01), and lumbar extensor muscle was significantly higher in the Sanda athlete group (p<.05). Sixth, in the isokinetic strength ratio, the knee flexion ratio of the Sanda athlete group were significantly higher on the left and right knee flexion and extensor ratios (p<.05). In addition, in the lumbar flexor and extensor ratios, the group of Sanda athlete group were significantly higher on the lumbar extensor(p<.05). Seventh, there was no significant difference between two groups in isokinetic muscle power. Conclusions The results of this study can be used as basic data to improve the efficiency of technical and physical training through the analysis of the characteristics of Taolu and Sanda. The effectiveness of this training will help to improve the performance.
To provide the distribution of cardiorespiratory fitness including Bruce treadmill exercise time and estimated peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and investigate association with cardiorespiratory fitness and metabolic syndrome, sedentary lifestyle, or education level among Korean adults. Analysis of data on 2,006 adults (19-64 yr) who had completed a maximal grade treadmill exercise test, from the Sports Institute of Sports Science Fitness Standards (KISS FitS) project 2014-2015. The mean maximal exercise time was 11’26’‘, 11’18’‘, 11’06’‘, 10’03’‘ and 8’51’‘ (minutes and seconds) for men 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-64 years of age, respectively, for women, it was 9’49’‘, 9’09’‘, 8’42’‘, 8’01’‘ and 7’33’‘ for the corresponding age groups. The mean peak oxygen uptake was estimated as 42.3, 41.8, 41.2, 37.6 and 33.6 ml/kg/minute for men 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-64 years of age, respectively, For women, it was 34.0, 31.8, 30.3, 28.0 and 26.4 ml/kg/minute for the corresponding age groups. A positive association between cardiorespiratory fitness level and education level was observed for both men and women. Furthermore, participants with sedentary lifestyle had a significantly lower cardiorespiratory fitness than participants with activity lifestyle. Finally, Men with moderate and high fitness level had 50% and 87% lower odds for the metabolic syndrome, and women had 48% and 50% lower odds for the metabolic syndrome, respectively, than the ones with low fitness level after adjustment for age, smoking, alcohol intake, and sedentary lifestyle. These results can be used to track future Korean assessments and to evaluated interventions. The differences in fitness status by education level, sedentary lifestyle or metabolic syndrome can also be used to develop health policies, program and educational services.
The frailty, characterized by reduced physiological function is closely related to a fall, disability, institutionalization, hospitalization, and mortality in the elderly. A reduced physical fitness is a major phenotype of the frailty. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among pre-frailty, physical activity (PA) and functional fitness in the community dwelling elderly women. The study participants were elderly women (n=338, 70.6±4.2years) aged over 65 who took part in the Korean Healthy Fitness Criteria study for the National Fitness Award Project in 2015. The pre-frailty was defined using the Cardiovascular Health Study frailty criteria. PA was assessed using the International PA Questionnaire (IPAQ). The participants were classified as regular PA participants if they meet the World Health Organization (WHO) PA recommendation for the elderly. Functional fitness was assessed using the composite of the National Fitness Award fitness testing for the elderly. Quality of life was evaluated using EuroQoL visual analogue scale and WHO quality of life assessment. As the results, the pre-frail elderly women were significantly older and obese (body mass index, percent body fat, waist circumference) than the healthy elderly. The pre-frail elderly presented significant decreases in walking, moderate intensity, and total PA compared to the healthy elderly even after adjusted for age and percent body fat. However, no significant difference was found in vigorous-intensity activity between the pre-frail and healthy elderly. Also, the pre-frail elderly women showed the decrease in functional fitness and quality of life compared to the healthy elderly. Regular PA was associated with high levels of muscular endurance and coordination in healthy and pre-frail elderly. In pre-frail elderly, high levels of cardiorespiratory endurance was associated with PA. In conclusion, regular PA is inversely associated with fitness decline in healthy and pre-frail community-dwelling elderly women. Regular PA might attenuate fitness decline in pre-frail elderly women.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether the difference between ingestion of nutrition supplements for 8 weeks can regulate physical activities and fatigue recovery. Fifty one middle-aged women participated in this study and were divided into placebo, ingestion of 20g energy supplement and ingestion of 40g energy supplement groups. Energy supplement mainly consists of carbohydrates and proteins. All subjects take in this supplement one time per a day for 8 weeks. Physical activity and fatigue recovery were measured before and after ingestion of energy supplement for 8 weeks by using the Wingate anaerobic and a blood tests. In the Wingate anaerobic test, the peak power(p<.01) and average power(p<.05) were significantly increased in ingestion of 20 and 40g supplement groups compared to the placebo group. Although concentrations of lactate and growth hormone in the blood didn’t show a significant differences among groups, blood concentrations of cortisol and ammonia were further enhanced in ingestion of 20 and 40g supplement groups compared to the placebo group(p<.001). The results of present study provide evidence that energy supplement mixed with carbohydrates and proteins may be effective to increase physical activity as well as to reduce blood concentration of fatigue-related factors after exercise.
