Functional Fitness and Cognition in Older Adults: A Mediation Model

Objective: This study aimed to report the fear of falling and assess its associations with several fall-related characteristics and functional fitness parameters among older adults living in the rest home. Methods: Seventy-eight older adults aged between 65-94 years were included in the study. History of falling and the number of risk factors for falling were recorded. Fear of falling was evaluated with The Falls Efficacy ScaleInternational. Functional fitness was assessed with Senior Fitness Test, including tests for the functional measurement of strength, flexibility, aerobic endurance and dynamic balance. Result: The mean age of participants was 78.46±7.16 years. There were correlations exist between fear of falling and number of fall risk factors, dynamic balance, upper body flexibility and aerobic endurance (p<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the parameters with the highest determinants of fear of falling were the dynamic balance and history of falling (p<0.05). Conclusions: In our study, history of falling, number of fall risk factors, flexibility for the upper body, aerobic endurance and dynamic balance were parameters related to fear of falling among older adults, but the most influential factors in fear of falling were dynamic balance and history of falling.

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Effect of a Walking Program on Functional Fitness Measures in Older Adults

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise ◽

10.1249/01.mss.0000485379.95433.d7 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 48 ◽

pp. 127

Author(s):

Joohee Im ◽

Hector Raya ◽

Tyler Cover ◽

Joe Farabaugh ◽

Morgan Horowitz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Functional Fitness ◽

Walking Program ◽

Fitness Measures

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IMPACT OF PHYSICAL AND FUNCTIONAL FITNESS ON MORTALITY FROM ALL CAUSES OF PHYSICALLY INDEPENDENT OLDER ADULTS

Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics ◽

10.1016/j.archger.2021.104524 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 104524

Author(s):

Mario Molari ◽

Karen Barros Parron ◽

Audrey de Souza Marquez ◽

Vanessa Suziane Probst ◽

Paulo Bignardi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Functional Fitness

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Effects of perceived social isolation, fear of social isolation and gratitude during COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety in Malaysia (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.29808 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cher Yi Tan ◽

Jia Yi Ng ◽

Mei-Hua Lin ◽

Min Hooi Yong

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Indirect Effect ◽

Moderating Effect ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Mediation Effect ◽

Mediation Model ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Perceived Social Isolation

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic compelled many countries including Malaysia to impose movement restrictions to curb spreading the virus. Evidence shows that prolonged isolation has negative effects on both physical and mental health. OBJECTIVE Our aims were to examine (1) the mediating effect of perceived social isolation (SI) and fear of social isolation (FSI) on the relationship between gratitude and anxiety, and (2) to explore the moderating effect of age, education and socioeconomic status on the mediation model. METHODS We collected data from 427 participants currently living in Malaysia during the movement restriction order (Mage = 37.90, SD = 16.51, 313 females) from an online survey containing questions pertaining to isolation and gratitude. RESULTS Our mediation analysis showed that gratitude has a positive effect on overcoming anxiety as it also lowers feelings of SI and FSI (B = -.229, β = .128, bootstrap SE = .049, 95% bootstrap CI = [-.332, -.138]). The moderated mediation analyses revealed the indirect effect of gratitude on anxiety through SI was significant for young adults (B = -.148, β = .083, 95% bootstrap CI [-.274, -.042]) and middle-aged (B = -.099, β = -.055, 95% bootstrap CI [-.177, -.033]) but not for older adults (B = -.026, β = -.015, 95% bootstrap CI [-.129, .047]). Results were similar for FSI in that it was significant for middle aged and not significant for older adults (all CIs does not include zero). However the mediation effect was not significant for young adults (B = -.020, β = -.011, 95% bootstrap CI [-.066, .016]). When we examined the moderating effect of education and SES in the parallel mediation model, results showed that the mediation effect of SI and FSI for those with lower levels of education was significant for all SES levels (all CIs did not contain zero). As for those with medium levels of education, the conditional indirect effect of SI and FSI was significant only for low and medium levels of SES but not for high SES. CONCLUSIONS Our findings highlight the importance of having some coping mechanism and social connection during the pandemic to have higher wellbeing and quality of life, especially for middle-aged sample and people from low education and SES background. CLINICALTRIAL None

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Strength training is associated with better functional fitness and perceived healthy aging among physically active older adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Aging Clinical and Experimental Research ◽

10.1007/s40520-018-1079-6 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (9) ◽

pp. 1257-1263 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jennifer L. Copeland ◽

Joshua Good ◽

Shilpa Dogra

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Strength Training ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Functional Fitness ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Physically Active ◽

Cross Sectional Analysis ◽

Sectional Analysis

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Comparing functional fitness and quality of life and in men older adults with and without fear of fall and fall history

Journal of Geriatric Nursing ◽

10.21859/jgn.2.3.9 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 9-21

Author(s):

D Khajavi ◽

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Older Adults ◽

Functional Fitness

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Effect of hypoxic conditioning on functional fitness, balance and fear of falling in healthy older adults: a randomized controlled trial

European Review of Aging and Physical Activity ◽

10.1186/s11556-021-00279-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Rafael Timon ◽

Marta Camacho-Cardeñosa ◽

Adrián González-Custodio ◽

Guillermo Olcina ◽

Narcis Gusi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Fear Of Falling ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Training Group ◽

Training Programme ◽

Control Group ◽

Functional Fitness ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Hypoxia Exposure ◽

Hypoxic Conditions

Abstract Background Hypoxic conditioning has been proposed as a new tool to mitigate the sarcopenia and enhance health-related function, but decrements in standing balance have been observed during hypoxia exposure. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a hypoxic conditioning training on functional fitness, balance and fear of falling in healthy older adults. Methods A total of 54 healthy older adults (aged 65–75 years), who voluntarily participated in the study, were randomly divided into three groups: the control group (CON), the normoxia training group (NT) that performed strength training in normoxia, and the hypoxia training group (HT) that trained under moderate hypoxic conditions at a simulated altitude of 2500 m asl. The training programme that was performed during 24 weeks was similar in both experimental groups and consisted of a full-body workout with elastic bands and kettlebells (three sets × 12–15 reps). The Senior Fitness Test (SFT), the Single Leg Stance test (SLS) and the Short Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) were assessed before and after the intervention. Results Results showed that after training, either in normoxia or in hypoxia, the participants increased upper and lower body strength, and the aerobic endurance, and decreased the fear of falling. Conclusions The moderate hypoxic conditioning seems to be a useful tool to increase the functional capacity in healthy older adults without observing a decline in balance. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04281264. Registered February 9, 2019-Retrospectively registered.

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