Extracts
$60 Million Aging Study Measures Exercise Benefits
Czerne M. Reid
The University of Florida will receive more than $60 million over the next six years from the National Institute on Aging to study whether a program of structured physical activity can prevent or delay major movement disability in older adults.
When completed, funding for the project is expected to total more than $60 million from the NIA, including $29.5 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The total will amount to the largest federal award ever to UF. It is also the largest study to prevent mobility disability in seniors.
Many studies have shown that regular exercise improves physical performance. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week, as well as muscle-strengthening activities.
Still, little is known about whether exercise can actually help prevent major mobility disability, defined as the inability to walk a quarter of a mile, or four blocks.
For older adults, staving off disability could help them maintain their physical independence and enhance the quality of their later years.
“We all know that physical activity is good for our health, but the definitive evidence whether it can prevent disability in older people — whether you can prevent them from being unable to walk — is lacking,” said principal investigator Dr. Marco Pahor, director of the UF Institute on Aging.
The new study, called the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders, or LIFE study, seeks to fill that gap in scientific knowledge. This study of 1,600 sedentary adults ages 70 to 89 who are at risk of mobility disability will be conducted at eight institutions around the country.
“This grant reflects NIH’s recognition of the excellence of Dr. Pahor’s work in this area over the past 10 years,” said Dr. David S. Guzick, UF’s senior vice president for health affairs and president of the
UF&Shands Health System. “It represents the kind of translational research that UF will increasingly be in a position to conduct.”
UF is the coordinating center and a field site for the LIFE study, with other field sites at Northwestern University, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Stanford University, Tufts University, the University of Pittsburgh, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Yale University.
Recruitment will begin in early 2010. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to take part in either a program of moderate-intensity physical activity or a health education program on successful aging. Individuals will be followed for up to three-and-a-half years.
It will be the largest randomized controlled trial ever conducted on physical activity in older adults, and the size of the study will allow scientists to examine the effect of physical activity on a large number of outcomes in ways not previously possible.
Primarily, the study seeks to gauge whether there are long-term effects of physical activity interventions on major mobility disability. Investigators will also examine the effects of physical activity on a number of factors, including cognitive function, serious fall injuries, disability in basic activities of daily living, cardiovascular events and hospitalization and nursing home admission. They will also examine quality-of-life measures such as depression symptoms, sleep quality, stress and satisfaction with life.
In addition, the project will allow an assessment of the cost effectiveness of walking programs for the elderly, and whether the money spent on such programs can help reduce medical expenses for injuries and illness that might otherwise result from lack of adequate physical activity.
As adults age, many lose vitality and the inclination or ability to engage in physical activities as simple as walking. Older adults ages 60 to 85 spend almost 60 percent of their time — more than eight of their waking hours — in sedentary behaviors.
The length of time spent in sedentary behaviors has been associated with increased risk of weight gain and various diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. And people who lose their mobility have higher rates of sickness, hospitalization and death than others who do not have disabilities.