PURPOSE High blood pressure and obesity pose significant health problems for older individuals. Previous studies showed that regular exercise improves physical fitness factors and decreases blood pressure and obesity. Therefore, this study investigated differences in blood pressure and obesity according to the physical fitness level of Korean older individuals using the National Fitness 100 data and used them to recognize the importance of maintaining physical fitness through regular physical activity or exercise for older individuals. METHODS From 2013 to 2019, a total of 218,848 subjects (men=74,271, women=144,577) aged ≥65 years who participated in the National Fitness 100 had their muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, balance, coordination, and flexibility measured, and they were ascribed a fitness level. Blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), percentage of bodyfat, and waist circumference were measured to compare the difference in fitness level. RESULTS There was a significant difference in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in older men, and the diastolic blood pressure of older women by the fitness level (p<.001). In both older men and women, there was a significant difference in BMI, percentage of bodyfat, and waist circumference according to the fitness level (p<.001). CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, men and women showed different aspects in blood pressure, but Korean older individuals with having a high level of fitness managed their weight and body fat well. The decrease in obesity and improvement of physical fitness through regular physical activity and exercise could be a positive effect on maintaining health and extending healthy life years.
PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the effects of accelerated rehabilitation exercise on physical fitness, lower extremity isometric strength, and blood variables in older adult women diagnosed with degenerative osteoarthritis. METHODS A total of 29 older adult women diagnosed with degenerative osteoarthritis residing in G city participated in the study, and 19 participants, excluding dropouts, took part in the experiment. They underwent exercise twice a week for 60 minutes per session over a period of 12 weeks. Pre- and post-experiment, the older adult fitness assessment (SFT), lower extremity isometric strength, and blood variables were measured. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 25.0, and paired sample t-tests were conducted to examine the effects before and after exercise. RESULTS The study results showed significant differences in body mass index (BMI) before and after exercise (p<0.05), and the older adult fitness assessment (SFT) showed significant differences in all items (p<0.01). Lower extremity isometric strength showed significant differences in absolute (Nm) and relative (%BW) values of 20° right flexion muscle (p<0.01). In terms of blood variables, significant differences were observed in creatine and ESR before and after exercise (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS This study’s results suggest that regular physical activity and rehabilitation exercise programs can positively impact the muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, exercise function, and blood composition of older adult women diagnosed with degenerative osteoarthritis. It is indicated that conducting future research, including periodic exercise programs, could be beneficial in promoting sustained exercise participation.
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.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 8 weeks of aerobic training and resveratrol supplementation on a body composition, physical fitness, insulin resistance, liver function, blood pressure, and heart rate. Fifty-one elderly women were randomly assigned to aerobic training group (EX: n=12), resveratrol supplementation group (R: n=13), combined aerobic training and resveratrol supplementation group (EX+R: n=12), and control group (CON: n=14). The subjects in EX group exercised three sessions per week, 40 minutes per session for 8 weeks, the subjects in R group took 500 mg of resveratrol per day for 8 weeks, and the subjects in EX+R group received both treatments. The subjects in CON group were asked to maintain normal daily life pattern without any treatment for the same period of intervention. Body composition, physical fitness, insulin resistance, liver function, blood pressure, and heart rate were measured at pre- and post-test and the data were compared among groups and between tests by utilizing two-way ANOVA with repeated measures. Main results of the present study were as follows: 1) Physique and body composition did not change significantly in all groups. 2) Muscular endurance increased significantly in EX+R group, whereas the other physical fitness-related variables showed no significant changes in all groups. 3) Fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and HbA1c tended to be improved in EX+R group. 4) AST, ALT, and γ·GT showed no significant changes in all groups. 5) Systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure increased significantly in CON group. Heart rate tended to be decreased in EX+R group and EX group. It was concluded that the 8 weeks of aerobic training and resveratrol supplementation had positive effects on muscular endurance, insulin resistance, and blood pressure in T2DM elderly women. Research investigating the effects of a longer period of aerobic training and resveratrol supplementation on the same variables would be warranted in the future.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of National Fitness Award program group exercise classes on daily fitness and balance-confidence among the elderly participants(n=496, 80.2% women). This study investigated body composition, daily fitness, and balance-confidence, and quality of life among the subjects who participated in the combined exercise program of improving physical fitness class for 8-week in the 10 national physical fitness certification centers by the demonstration project for the elderly of 2013 Korean National Fitness 100 project. Body composition and physical fitness for daily living were defined by Korean National Fitness 100 project for elderly, also the balance-confidence and health-related questionnaires were added. The following results were obtained by comparing the pre-test and post-test. In body composition body weight (p<.05), body mass index (p<.05), fat mass (p<.01), and percent body fat (p<.05) were significantly decreased, but muscle mass was not. Except for walking-around-two-cones-in-a-figure 8, all other daily fitness items such as relative grip strength (p<.001), chair sit to stand, two minutes place to walk, and sit-and-reach significantly increased (p<.01), and timed up and go were significantly decreased (p<.01). In balance confidence rating ABC tests (p<.001) were shown significantly increased. Although, quality of life measured by EQ-5D was not significantly improved, self-health status measured by EQ-VAS (p<.001) showed significant increase. Therefore, the group exercises of National Fitness Award program improved body composition, daily fitness and balance confidence in Korean elderly participants.
Purpose Evaluating the aging of senior and providing optimal sevices are important things for successful aging. This study identified functional fitness related with heath of aged 65 years or older and developed an age scale (longevity fitness age) for assessing their aging. Methods Participants were 458 older people (166 male, 292 female). They were divided into healthy group and disease group. Healthy group was used for the development of the longevity age equation and disease group was for investigating the validity of the equation. Participants completed 13 function fitness variables. The first principal component obtained from a principal component analysis was used to compute the equation. All variables except for grip strength and carrying beans were correlated with chronological aged. Grip strength and variables related lower functional fitness had differences between healthy group and disease group. Finally, 4 variables were selected for the equation. Results It was the following: longevity fitness age=0.942*X1+2, 185*X2+0.673*X3+0.051*X4+0.588*chronological age+58.401, where X1=standing up from a supine position, sec (s), X2=maximum walking (s), X3=standing up and sitting down a chair (s), X4=one leg balance with eyes open (s). The longevity fitness age of healthy group do not have a difference compared to their chronological age but disease group had a difference significantly. Age difference (chronological age-longevity fitness age) of sedentary group in disease group was significantly bigger than its active group. Longevity fitness age could assess an aging of senior. Conclusion We suggest that it can use as the tool for early detecting senior who need the health care service.
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.
Purpose This study examines the regional differences in fall-related physical fitness and fall experience characteristics between Korean and Japanese elderly people. Methods The study includes 176 elderly residents of Gifu(35 male, 73.5yrs; 141 female, 72.4yrs) and 147 residents of Ulsan(46 male, 75.6yrs; 101 female, 75.6yrs). One-legged stance, hand grip strength, knee extension strength, 10 m gait, timed up and go test, 30-s chair stand, sit and reach, and reaction time were measured to examine the fall-related physical fitness. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to investigate the characteristics of the fall experiences. Results The elderly in Ulsan experienced a lot of falls compared to those in Gifu. Many of the fallers in Ulsan have fallen forward due to tripping, and they have often fallen backwards by losing balance. In addition, 14% of them suffered a bone fractured. The one-legged stance, hand grip strength, 10m gait, timed up and go, 30-s chair stand, and reaction time of the elderly in Gifu were superior to those in Ulsan. Conclusion In order to reduce the fall rate through improvements to fall related physical fitness and the awareness of fall prevention, various professional fall prevention programs and policies should be proposed, and they should be implemented systematically for community living elderly people.
PURPOSE This study investigated the associations between physical fitness and fall efficacy with thigh circumference in elderly women with osteopenia/osteoporosis. METHODS A total of 166 female participants aged 76.3±5.0 years with –1.0≥T-score of femur neck bone mineral density were voluntarily recruited from local community centers. The participants were classified as low 25%, middle 50%, and high 25% groups based on their thigh circumference. Physical fitness measurements, including strength, flexibility, aerobic endurance, and balance were measured with a standardized protocol. The Korean version of the fall efficacy scale (K-FES) was used to assess fall efficacy. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odd ratio (OR) of poor physical fitness and low fall efficacy according to thigh circumference levels. RESULTS In terms of physical fitness, the middle 50% group (OR=0.430, 95% CI=0.194-0.953) and high 25% group (OR=0.129, 95% CI=0.049-0.343) had significantly higher linear trend for poor physical fitness compared to the low 25% group (reference), (p<0.001). In fall efficacy, the middle 50% group (OR=0.279, 95% CI=0.119-0.656) and high 25% group (OR=0.100, 95% CI=0.036-0.275) had significantly higher linear trend for low fall efficacy compared to the low 25% group (reference) (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The current findings suggest that maintaining high thigh circumference via regular physical activity and diet may contribute to attenuation of decreased risk for poor physical fitness and low fall efficacy in elderly women with osteopenia/osteoporosis.
PURPOSE This study assessed Taekwondo’s impact on functional fitness and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older women from South Korean multicultural families. METHODS Through purposive sampling, 16 participants were divided into an experimental group that underwent a 12-week Taekwondo training program and a control group without this intervention. RESULTS Pre- and post-intervention assessments showed that the Taekwondo group experienced significant improvements in both functional fitness and HRQoL. These findings suggest that Taekwondo could be an effective physical activity for enhancing the well-being of older women in multicultural families, advocating for inclusion of culturally sensitive physical activities in health promotion programs targeting this demographic. CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting physical activity’s benefits for elderly populations, particularly in multicultural family dynamics.
