Relationships between physical, cognitive, and social frailty and locomotive and non-locomotive physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity.
Soma Tsujishita, Masaki Nagamatsu, Kiyoshi Sanada
PMID 37266358WHAT IT FOUND
Only physical frailty linked to low steps and walking intensity.
Cognitive and social frailty showed no such link. Use walking data for physical risk, but look elsewhere for mental or social decline.
Key findings
01Physical frailty was significantly associated with lower step counts and lower locomotive moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compared to robust participants.
02Neither cognitive frailty nor social frailty showed significant associations with any measured physical activity indices.
03Having two overlapping types of frailty was associated with significantly lower locomotive moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compared to being robust.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that low activity causes frailty; frail people may simply move less. The sample size was small (82 participants), which reduces the reliability of the findings. Data collection occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have artificially lowered social and physical activity levels for everyone. Cognitive frailty was defined using subjective self-reports of memory problems rather than objective cognitive tests, which may have influenced the lack of association found. The study excluded people with severe cognitive decline or those requiring long-term care, so results do not apply to more impaired populations.
Declared interests
There is no funding or conflict of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of association between cognitive or social frailty and physical activity as evidence that activity is irrelevant to these conditions. The study used subjective self-reports for cognitive decline and was conducted during pandemic restrictions, which may have masked true relationships.