Fabio Dutra Pereira

Physical exercise and functional fitness in independently living vs institutionalized elderly women: a comparison of 60- to 79-year-old city dwellers

Purpose To compare functional fitness (FF) levels among independent-living (IL) and day care (DC) elderly women of different age groups and to analyze changes in FF after 8 months of participation in an exercise program intervention for the IL elderly women. Materials and methods A total of 674 elderly women were divided into four IL groups with age in the range of 60–64 years (IL60–64, n=149), 65–69 years (IL65–69, n=138), 70–74 years (IL70–74, n=135), and 75–79 years (IL75–79, n=83), and four DC groups with age in the range of 60–64 years (DC60–64, n=35), 65–69 years (DC65–69, n=34), 70–74 years (DC70–74, n=47), and 75–79 years (DC75–79, n=53). The intervention consisted of a multimodal exercise training, 3 days per week for 8 months. Senior Fitness Test battery performances were obtained at baseline and after 8-month intervention. Results Significant differences were identified between all IL groups and DC groups in all FF tests (P<0.001), except between IL70–74 and DC70–74 in the chair sit-and-reach. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) identified significant improvements in all FF tests between pre- and posttests in the IL groups (P<0.001), except in the chair sit-and-reach for the IL70–74. ANCOVA also showed a significant declining performance in all FF tests for DC groups (P<0.001), except in the chair sit-and-reach for the DC70–74 and DC75–79. Conclusion IL women are more fit than institutionalized DC elderly women. The multimodal training was effective in improving all FF components related to daily living activities, in all age groups. In contrast, institutionalized elderly showed a clear tendency to worsen their FF over the time.

Comparação da força funcional de membros inferiores e superiores entre idosas fisicamente ativas e sedentárias

The objective of this research was to compare the functional strength of the higher and lower limbs in physically active and sedentary elderly women. The sample consisted of 540 volunteers, divided into: Physically Active Group (PAG) and Sedentary Group (SG), subdivided into: PAG1 (n=107 with 61.6±1.5 years old and BMI=27.1±3.9), PAG2 (n=94, with 66.7±1.3 years old and BMI=27.5±3.6), PAG3 (n=82, with 72.2±1.4 years old and BMI=27.5±3.8), PAG4 (n=75, with 77.2±1.3 years old and BMI=28.1±3.9), SG1 (n=36, with 2.9±1.2 years old and BMI=27.7±4.4), SG2 (n=39, with 67.7±1.3 years old and BMI=28.1±3.1), SG3 (n=49, with 72.5±1.3 years old and BMI=28.3±2.9) and SG4 (n=58, with 77.6±1.1 years old and BMI=28.3±3.8). To measure the variable in question were used the tests Chairs Stand and Arm Curl. The statistic analysis employed the software OFFICE EXCEL 2007 and SPSS16, adopting as significance level: U<0.05. For the functional strength of MMII, all PAG presented significant differences on their respective SG. For the functional strength of MMSS, only PAG1 and PAG2 presented significant differences on the SG1 and SG2. The conclusion is that physical activity programs have been able to maintain, although in limited levels, the functional strength of MMII and MMSS among physically active elderly women.

Functional autonomy in elderly women who are physically active and sedentary: causal comparative study

Introduction: Functional autonomy is considered an important marker of physical fitness, quality of life and health of the elderly. Objective: To compare the functional autonomy among physically active women and sedentary ones. Methodology: Comparative causal study with sample composed of 276 volunteers: Physically Active Group (PAG, n = 201) and Sedentary Group (GS, n = 75), which respectively were subdivided in two subgroups according to age. The instrument used for functional assessment was the Senior Fitness Test. The comparison of inter-subgroups functional autonomy was performed by the U test of Mann-Whitney with significance level of (p <0.05) through the program BioEstat 5.0. Results: Significant differences between functional autonomy of subgroups of PAG on their respective SG in all tests. Conclusions: The practice of regular physical activity has led physically active elderly women to have a better condition than sedentary ones.

Influence of the length of institutionalization on older adults' postural balance and risk of falls: a transversal study

OBJETIVO: verificar a influencia do tempo de institucionalizacao no equilibrio e no risco de quedas de idosos. METODO: para a avaliacao do risco de quedas utilizaram-se o Berg Balance Scale e o Get Up and Go e, para a medida do equilibrio postural, foi utilizada a estabilometria estatica com aquisicao da area eliptica de 95% e velocidades medias nos eixos x e y do deslocamento do centro de pressao. Foram empregadas medidas de associacao e comparacao parametricas e nao parametricas (α<0,05). RESULTADOS: nao houve correlacao significativa entre o tempo de institucionalizacao e os testes de avaliacao do risco de quedas, como tambem nao houve diferenca intergrupos e intrassubgrupos, estratificados por tempo de institucionalizacao e idade. Nas medidas estabilometricas, houve correlacao negativa entre os parâmetros analisados e o tempo de institucionalizacao, e diferenca intergrupos e intrassubgrupos. CONCLUSAO: os resultados desta pesquisa apontam a dificuldade de execucao das tarefas de controle postural, mostrando um nivelamento abaixo dos escores de referencia dos testes clinicos. No comportamento estabilometrico, adverte-se reducao dos parâmetros conforme aumenta o tempo de institucionalizacao, contrariando as suposicoes. Os resultados deste estudo poderao oferecer subsidios para a elaboracao de um modelo multiprofissional de intervencao sobre o controle postural e o equilibrio dos idosos residentes em instituicoes de longa permanencia para idosos.

Risk of falls among institutionalized elderly: a descriptive and correlational study

Objective: To describe and analyze the association between institutionalization time in Long-Term Care Institutions for the Elderly (LTCI) and the balance and risk of falls of this population. Methods: This is a descriptive correlational study. The dependent variables will be measured through the use of scales of balance and stabilometry. The census consists of all population institutionalized at LTCIs in the city of Tres Rios (RJ), between September 2011 and March 2012. Data processing includes the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to verify the distribution. The data presented will be submitted to a Pearson correlation test and the analysis of variance for one factor, to allow comparisons between inter-groups and intra-subgroups. In the event that a Gaussian distribution is not presented, non-parametric tests will be used. The significance level used will be 5%. For statistical analysis BioEstat 5.0 software will be adopted

Critical analysis of the drafting of physical therapy randomized controlled trials published in Portuguese

Introduction: randomized controlled trials are high quality studies. Many problems related to the drafting of these studies have been identified and consequently various national and international journals, in an attempt to improve this writing, have adopted the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials recommendations. Regarding the studies written specifically by physical therapists, until now, the quality of the drafting in Portuguese has been unknown. Aim: To critically analyze the drafting of RCTs in the area of physical therapy, published in Portuguese, in relation to the CONSORT recommendations. Materials and Methods: On 17th Oct, 2012, 548 RCTs in Portuguese were recovered from the MEDLINE and PEDro databases, which were divided among four evaluators who, after reading the abstracts, selected those related to physical therapy. Of these studies, 78 RCTs were related to physical therapy, which were divided among the four evaluators for the analysis of the drafting according to the CONSORT recommendations. The four evaluators who participated in this study previously obtained a median kappa above 70% when their analyses were compared to the analyses of the evaluator considered the gold standard due to having greater experience. Results: The quantity of items of the CONSORT recommendations according to year of publication was very small, corresponding to a mean of 43% of the items in the articles analyzed. Conclusion: The results make very clear the need to improve the quality of the drafting of the RCTs related to physical therapy in Portuguese and to include more rigorous methodological procedures, such as sample size, randomization and blinding. The dissemination and adoption of the CONSORT recommendations by physical therapy researchers would, without doubt, be a big step towards improving this quality.

Influência do tempo de institucionalização no equilíbrio postural e no risco de quedas de idosos: estudo transversal

OBJETIVO: verificar a influencia do tempo de institucionalizacao no equilibrio e no risco de quedas de idosos. METODO: para a avaliacao do risco de quedas utilizaram-se o Berg Balance Scale e o Get Up and Go e, para a medida do equilibrio postural, foi utilizada a estabilometria estatica com aquisicao da area eliptica de 95% e velocidades medias nos eixos x e y do deslocamento do centro de pressao. Foram empregadas medidas de associacao e comparacao parametricas e nao parametricas (α<0,05). RESULTADOS: nao houve correlacao significativa entre o tempo de institucionalizacao e os testes de avaliacao do risco de quedas, como tambem nao houve diferenca intergrupos e intrassubgrupos, estratificados por tempo de institucionalizacao e idade. Nas medidas estabilometricas, houve correlacao negativa entre os parâmetros analisados e o tempo de institucionalizacao, e diferenca intergrupos e intrassubgrupos. CONCLUSAO: os resultados desta pesquisa apontam a dificuldade de execucao das tarefas de controle postural, mostrando um nivelamento abaixo dos escores de referencia dos testes clinicos. No comportamento estabilometrico, adverte-se reducao dos parâmetros conforme aumenta o tempo de institucionalizacao, contrariando as suposicoes. Os resultados deste estudo poderao oferecer subsidios para a elaboracao de um modelo multiprofissional de intervencao sobre o controle postural e o equilibrio dos idosos residentes em instituicoes de longa permanencia para idosos.

Influencia del tiempo de institucionalización en el equilibrio postural y en el riesgo de caídas de ancianos: estudio transversal 1

OBJETIVO: verificar a influencia do tempo de institucionalizacao no equilibrio e no risco de quedas de idosos. METODO: para a avaliacao do risco de quedas utilizaram-se o Berg Balance Scale e o Get Up and Go e, para a medida do equilibrio postural, foi utilizada a estabilometria estatica com aquisicao da area eliptica de 95% e velocidades medias nos eixos x e y do deslocamento do centro de pressao. Foram empregadas medidas de associacao e comparacao parametricas e nao parametricas (α<0,05). RESULTADOS: nao houve correlacao significativa entre o tempo de institucionalizacao e os testes de avaliacao do risco de quedas, como tambem nao houve diferenca intergrupos e intrassubgrupos, estratificados por tempo de institucionalizacao e idade. Nas medidas estabilometricas, houve correlacao negativa entre os parâmetros analisados e o tempo de institucionalizacao, e diferenca intergrupos e intrassubgrupos. CONCLUSAO: os resultados desta pesquisa apontam a dificuldade de execucao das tarefas de controle postural, mostrando um nivelamento abaixo dos escores de referencia dos testes clinicos. No comportamento estabilometrico, adverte-se reducao dos parâmetros conforme aumenta o tempo de institucionalizacao, contrariando as suposicoes. Os resultados deste estudo poderao oferecer subsidios para a elaboracao de um modelo multiprofissional de intervencao sobre o controle postural e o equilibrio dos idosos residentes em instituicoes de longa permanencia para idosos.

Physical activity and respiratory muscle strength in elderly: a systematic review

Introduction The aging will inevitably bring some kind of functional decline in elderly, sarcopenia in this sense stands out because it damages the muscle function and extend also to the respiratory muscles. Objective Systematically review studies that have sought to compare the strength of respiratory muscles between sedentary and physically active elderly in training programs nonspecific respiratory musculature. Materials and methods From the descriptors motor activity, respiratory muscles and elderly, the databases LILACS, MedLine, Cochrane, PEDro, Scirus and Redalyc were consulted. Results Of 1.263 experiments available in said databases, 12 were recovered and 6 were selected due they meet all the inclusion criteria and selection requirements. Conclusion Physical activity programs offered by the selected studies led physically active elderly to have respiratory muscle strength statistically higher than the sedentary. However, this condition did not expressed itself as security to these elderly to present strength levels above of the minimum predictive of normality.