scholarly journals Impact of a Wearable Device-Based Walking Programs in Rural Older Adults on Physical Activity and Health Outcomes: Cohort Study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Il-Young Jang ◽  
Hae Reong Kim ◽  
Eunju Lee ◽  
Hee-Won Jung ◽  
Hyelim Park ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Community-dwelling older adults living in rural areas are in a less favorable environment for health care compared with urban older adults. We believe that intermittent coaching through wearable devices can help optimize health care for older adults in medically limited environments. OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate whether a wearable device and mobile-based intermittent coaching or self-management could increase physical activity and health outcomes of small groups of older adults in rural areas. METHODS To address the above evaluation goal, we carried out the “Smart Walk” program, a health care model wherein a wearable device is used to promote self-exercise particularly among community-dwelling older adults managed by a community health center. We randomly selected older adults who had enrolled in a population-based, prospective cohort study of aging, the Aging Study of Pyeongchang Rural Area. The “Smart Walk” program was a 13-month program conducted from March 2017 to March 2018 and included 6 months of coaching, 1 month of rest, and 6 months of self-management. We evaluated differences in physical activity and health outcomes according to frailty status and conducted pre- and postanalyses of the Smart Walk program. We also performed intergroup analysis according to adherence of wearable devices. RESULTS We recruited 22 participants (11 robust and 11 prefrail older adults). The two groups were similar in most of the variables, except for age, frailty index, and Short Physical Performance Battery score associated with frailty criteria. After a 6-month coaching program, the prefrail group showed significant improvement in usual gait speed (mean 0.73 [SD 0.11] vs mean 0.96 [SD 0.27], P=.02), International Physical Activity Questionnaire scores in kcal (mean 2790.36 [SD 2224.62] vs mean 7589.72 [SD 4452.52], P=.01), and European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions score (mean 0.84 [SD 0.07] vs mean 0.90 [SD 0.07], P=.02), although no significant improvement was found in the robust group. The average total step count was significantly different and was approximately four times higher in the coaching period than in the self-management period (5,584,295.83 vs 1,289,084.66, P<.001). We found that participants in the “long-self” group who used the wearable device for the longest time showed increased body weight and body mass index by mean 0.65 (SD 1.317) and mean 0.097 (SD 0.513), respectively, compared with the other groups. CONCLUSIONS Our “Smart Walk” program improved physical fitness, anthropometric measurements, and geriatric assessment categories in a small group of older adults in rural areas with limited resources for monitoring. Further validation through various rural public health centers and in a large number of rural older adults is required.

Author(s):  
Kalene Pek ◽  
Justin Chew ◽  
Jun Pei Lim ◽  
Suzanne Yew ◽  
Cai Ning Tan ◽  
...  

Notwithstanding the increasing body of evidence that links social determinants to health outcomes, social frailty is arguably the least explored among the various dimensions of frailty. Using available items from previous studies to derive a social frailty scale as guided by the Bunt social frailty theoretical framework, we aimed to examine the association of social frailty, independently of physical frailty, with salient outcomes of mood, nutrition, physical performance, physical activity, and life–space mobility. We studied 229 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 67.22 years; 72.6% females) who were non-frail (defined by the FRAIL criteria). Using exploratory factor analysis, the resultant 8-item Social Frailty Scale (SFS-8) yielded a three-factor structure comprising social resources, social activities and financial resource, and social need fulfilment (score range: 0–8 points). Social non-frailty (SNF), social pre-frailty (SPF), and social frailty (SF) were defined based on optimal cutoffs, with corresponding prevalence of 63.8%, 28.8%, and 7.4%, respectively. In logistic regression adjusted for significant covariates and physical frailty (Modified Fried criteria), there is an association of SPF with poor physical performance and low physical activity (odds ratio, OR range: 3.10 to 6.22), and SF with depressive symptoms, malnutrition risk, poor physical performance, and low physical activity (OR range: 3.58 to 13.97) compared to SNF. There was no significant association of SPF or SF with life–space mobility. In summary, through a theory-guided approach, our study demonstrates the independent association of social frailty with a comprehensive range of intermediary health outcomes in more robust older adults. A holistic preventative approach to frailty should include upstream interventions that target social frailty to address social gradient and inequalities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. i30-i32
Author(s):  
S E R Lim ◽  
N J Cox ◽  
H C Roberts

Abstract Introduction Physical activity (PA) is important for older people to maintain functional independence and healthy ageing. PA interventions for community-dwelling older adults are often delivered by healthcare professionals, fitness instructors or trained members of a research team. Innovative approaches are needed to ensure that these interventions are practical and sustainable. This systematic review explores the effectiveness of volunteer-led PA interventions in improving health outcomes for community-dwelling older people. Methods Following PRISMA recommendations, five databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PEDro, Cochrane library) were systematically searched until May 2019, for studies using trained volunteers to deliver PA interventions for community-dwelling older people aged ≥ 65 years, reporting on participant outcomes. Meta-analysis was not conducted due to included study heterogeneity. Results Twelve papers (eight studies including three randomised controlled trials (RCTs)) were included in the review; five papers reported different outcomes from the same RCT. Intervention settings included community exercise groups (n=4), home (n=2) and care homes (n=2). All eight studies included strength and balance exercises and frequency of PA ranged from once daily to weekly sessions. The three RCTs showed improvement in grip strength, nutritional and frailty status, and reduction in fear of falling, among 39 older adults (mean age 83 years) who received a physical training and nutritional intervention; improvement in grip strength and activity of daily living scores among 56 nursing home older adults (mean age 78 years) who received resistance exercise training; and a significantly higher proportion of older adults (n = 193, 9% improvement vs 0.5% in the control group) achieved the recommended target of 150 minutes of moderate vigorous PA per week using the Falls Management Exercise intervention. Two studies compared volunteer and health professional-delivered PA interventions and reported that both interventions were equally effective in reducing fear of falls and improving quality of life. Two quasi-experimental studies reported improvement in functional outcomes including functional reach, timed up and go test, and chair stand. A large prospective cohort study (n = 1620) reported a reduction in disability among older adults who received volunteer-led exercise compared to control, with a hazard ratio of 0.73 (95% CI 0.62-0.86) for development of disability. Conclusions Trained volunteers can lead PA interventions among community-dwelling older adults with some evidence of improved health outcomes including nutritional, functional and frailty status.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105477382110339
Author(s):  
Bei Li ◽  
Xiuxiu Huang ◽  
Chenchen Meng ◽  
Qiaoqin Wan ◽  
Yongan Sun

Dementia is prevalent in worldwide, and increases the care burden and potential costs. Physical activity (PA) has been increasingly shown to be beneficial for them. This was a cross-sectional observational study aiming to investigate the status of PA among community-dwelling older adults with dementia in Beijing or Hangzhou, China, and verify the relationships between neuropsychiatric symptoms, activities of daily living (ADL), caregivers’ fear of patients’ falling and their PA using a path analysis approach. The level of PA among 216 included people with dementia was low. PA was related to the neuropsychiatric symptoms, with ADL and caregivers’ fear of patients’ falling have mediation roles. The findings indicated that person-centered strategies related to the management of these symptoms might be helpful to improve ADL, relieve caregivers’ concerns about them falling and consequently foster positive participation in PA.


Author(s):  
Hilde Bremseth Bårdstu ◽  
Vidar Andersen ◽  
Marius Steiro Fimland ◽  
Lene Aasdahl ◽  
Hilde Lohne-Seiler ◽  
...  

Older adults’ physical activity (PA) is low. We examined whether eight months of resistance training increased PA level in community-dwelling older adults receiving home care. A two-armed cluster-randomized trial using parallel groups was conducted. The included participants were >70 years and received home care. The resistance training group performed resistance training using body weight, elastic bands, and water canes twice per week for eight months. The control group was informed about the national PA guidelines and received motivational talks. The ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer was used to estimate PA. Outcomes included total PA (counts per minute), sedentary behavior (min/day), light PA (min/day), moderate-to-vigorous PA (min/day), and steps (mean/day). Between-group differences were analyzed using multilevel linear mixed models. Twelve clusters were randomized to either resistance training (7 clusters, 60 participants) or the control group (5 clusters, 44 participants). A total of 101 participants (median age 86.0 (interquartile range 80–90) years) had valid accelerometer data and were included in the analysis. There were no statistically significant between-group differences for any of the PA outcomes after four or eight months. This study offers no evidence of increased PA level following resistance training in older adults with home care.


Pain Medicine ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 1702-1710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keitaro Makino ◽  
Sangyoon Lee ◽  
Sungchul Lee ◽  
Seongryu Bae ◽  
Songee Jung ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective This study examined the association between daily physical activity and functional disability incidence in community-dwelling older adults with chronic pain. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Japanese community. Subjects Of the 5,257 participants enrolled for baseline assessment, data on the 693 participants who had chronic lower back or knee pain and underwent daily physical activity assessment using an accelerometer were analyzed. Methods Participants were assessed for regular physical activity (step counts, moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity duration, and light-intensity physical activity duration) using an accelerometer at baseline and were followed up for monthly functional disability incidence, based on the national long-term care insurance system, for approximately two years. We determined the effect of physical activity cutoff points on functional disability incidence using receiver operating characteristic curves and Youden index. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze associations between the cutoff points and disability incidence. Results Among the 693 participants with chronic pain, 69 (10.0%) developed functional disability during the follow-up period. Participants with lower physical activity levels showed significantly higher risk of disability. After adjusting for all covariates, functional disability was associated with step counts (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02–3.14) and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity duration (HR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.16–3.51) but had no relationship with light-intensity physical activity duration (HR = 1.72, 95% CI = 0.97–3.05). Conclusions Maintenance of physical activity with at least moderate intensity may be effective in preventing disability even among older adults with chronic pain.


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