Classification and comparison of the physical characteristics and functions of various age groups of community-dwelling elderly individuals participating in the Kayoi-no-ba program.
Naritoshi Sato, Kosuke Takano, Isamu Konishi and 9 others
PMID 38694016WHAT IT FOUND
Among older adults attending a weekly community exercise program, women over 80 had lower strength, poorer balance, and slower mobility than women in their 60s and 70s.
Men over 80 had lower grip strength and shorter left-leg balance time.
Key findings
01Grip strength was significantly lower in women aged 80 and older than in women in their 60s and 70s, and lower in men aged 80 and older than in men in their 70s.
02Single-leg stand time was significantly shorter in women aged 80 and older than in women in their 60s and 70s, and in women in their 70s than in women in their 60s; men aged 80 and older were significantly shorter than men in their 70s on the left leg.
03Timed Up and Go was significantly slower in women aged 80 and older than in women in their 60s and 70s, but not in men.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample was limited to community-dwelling older adults who already attended a weekly Kayoi-no-ba exercise program, and the paper cites national data saying fewer than 2% of older adults participate weekly. The study analysed 176 participants from six cities and towns in Niigata Prefecture, so the setting and area were limited. The study was cross-sectional, so it compared different people at different ages rather than following the same people over time. There were no male participants in their 60s, so male comparisons were only between the 70s and over-80 groups. The characteristics of each Kayoi-no-ba program were not clarified. The study did not analyse how physical characteristics and function influenced each other, and it did not include a non-participating control group.
Declared interests
Niigata Prefecture funded and supported the research. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these age-group differences as proof that the Kayoi-no-ba program caused decline or prevented decline. The study compared different people at one time point, not the same people over time, and it did not test the program against a non-participating control group.