Ryosuke Shigematsu

Age scale for assessing functional fitness in older Japanese ambulatory women

Our aim was to develop an age scale for the assessment of functional fitness in older women. The subjects were 430 older Japanese ambulatory women. They were divided into three groups: (a) less active (N=373, age 72.5±6.7 years); (b) active (N=23, age 71.0±5.4 years); and (c) sedentary (N=34, age 72.9±4.7 years). The less active group was used for the development of the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) age equation, while data from active and sedentary groups were utilized for the assessment of the criterion-related validity. Seventeen functional fitness variables were selected as test items related to IADL. IADL were defined as extra activities people engaged in during daily living, such as preparing meals, housecleaning activities, and washing. After applying the first principal component analysis to the correlation matrix among the 17 items, the following IADL age equation was obtained: IADL age = - 0.43X1 - 0.57X2 - 0.32X3 + 0.37X4 + 0.37CA + 61.88, where X1 = arm curl (n / 30 s), X2 = moving beans with chopsticks (n / 30 s), X3 = functional reach (cm), X4 = walking around two cones (s), and CA = chronological age (years). The mean IADL age of the less active group (72.2±8.4 years) obtained from this equation was matched with their mean CA. The mean IADL age of the active group (66.0±3.2 years) was significantly lower than their mean CA (71.0±5.4 years, p<0.05), and the mean IADL age of the sedentary group (79.1±6.0 years) was significantly higher than their mean CA (72.9±4.7 years, p<0.05). In conclusion, the criterion-related validity of the IADL age equation was clearly demonstrated as a means to assess the functional fitness required for IADL in older Japanese women.

Functional fitness may be related to life satisfaction in older Japanese adults.

The relationship between functional fitness status and life satisfaction was assessed in older Japanese people from the perspective of quality of life (QOL). A total of 123 older men and women (M = 74.3 years, SD = 5.4) participated in the study. The questionnaire contained 21 questions covering eight structural factors pertaining to the feelings of life satisfaction in older people. The functional fitness test consisted of nine items representing the following five areas of fitness: muscular strength, agility, coordination, balance, and flexibility. The analysis revealed no overall correlation between the total fitness and the total life satisfaction scores, but some of the life satisfaction factors were significantly related to some functional fitness items (P < .01). The results suggest it is important for older people to maintain their functional fitness in order to manage a high quality of life.

Validation of the functional fitness age (FFA) index in older Japanese women.

Functional fitness age (FFA), which we previously described, is a measure of functional age that reflects a person’s overall physical ability to complete daily tasks such as preparing meals and performing various household chores. The purpose of this study was to validate FFA in two elderly populations: 1) older subjects from different communities, and 2) older subjects participating in an exercise intervention program. FFA was calculated from 4 performance tests: performing arm curls; moving beans with chopsticks; demonstrating functional reach; and sitting and walking around two cones. The first study group was selected from 4 different communities (N=127), and was subdivided into a less active group (N=87) and an active group (N=40). The results of the 4 tests for the less active group were not significantly different from those for the original validation group used in developing the FFA equation. The FFA of the less active group (71.1±7.7 yrs) was not different from their chronological age (70.4±6.6 yrs). In the active group, except for the arm curls, test scores were significantly higher than those of the original validation group. The FFA of the active group (66.2±5.1 yrs) was significantly younger than their chronological age (70.9±4.2 yrs). Another group of 14 older women (79.5±3.9 yrs) was recruited for pre- and post-training testing. After the 3-month exercise program, they showed significant improvements in sitting and walking around two cones and functional reach; their FFA decreased significantly from 81.5±5.0 yrs to 78.3±4.5 yrs. The control group selected from the same community (N=16, 79.8±5.3 yrs) showed no significant changes in the 4 performance tests, and their FFA remained unchanged. These results indicate that our FFA is highly cross- validated for different Japanese communities, and is sensitive to changes associated with participation in an exercise intervention program.