Exercise intervention implemented by trained volunteers improves health-related quality of life among Japanese community-dwelling older females: an intervention study.

The study was not randomised, and the paper does not say how women were assigned to volunteer-led or professional-led classes. Women in the volunteer-led group were younger and had better baseline quality-of-life scores, which the authors say may overestimate the volunteer-led effect. The efficacy analysis included only 105 healthy older females after 30 were excluded for missing pre-intervention values and 22 dropped out. Participants were healthy community-dwelling older females from one Japanese prefecture, so the results may not apply to frail older people, men, or the wider Japanese population. The professionals who trained the volunteers did not deliver the exercise intervention, which the authors say may also overestimate volunteer-led efficacy. Quality of life was measured only before and after the six-month intervention, so the study does not show whether the changes lasted.

The authors declare no financial or personal relationships that could pose a conflict of interest. No funding source is reported in the article text.

Do not conclude that trained volunteers improve older women's quality of life better than physical therapists or public health nurses. The groups were not randomised, the volunteer participants were younger and started with better quality-of-life scores, and the authors say these baseline differences may overestimate the volunteer-led effect.