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Cited by 79Physical Activity and HealthFrailty in Older AdultsBalance, Gait, and Falls Prevention

Physical Activity in Non-Frail and Frail Older Adults

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Jansen, F. Marijke, Prins, Rick G., Etman, Astrid, van der Ploeg, Hidde P., de Vries, Sanne I., van Lenthe, Frank J., Pierik, Frank H.·2015·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0123168PMC PMC4409218
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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity (PA) is important for healthy ageing. Better insight into objectively measured PA levels in older adults is needed, since most previous studies employed self-report measures for PA assessment, which are associated with overestimation of PA. AIM: This study aimed to provide insight in objectively measured indoor and outdoor PA of older adults, and in PA differences by frailty levels. METHODS: Data were collected among non-frail (N = 74) and frail (N = 10) subjects, aged 65 to 89 years. PA, measured for seven days with accelerometers and GPS-devices, was categorized into three levels of intensity (sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous PA). RESULTS: Older adults spent most time in sedentary and light PA. Subjects spent 84.7%, 15.1% and 0.2% per day in sedentary, light and moderate-to-vigorous PA respectively. On average, older adults spent 9.8 (SD 23.7) minutes per week in moderate-to-vigorous activity, and 747.0 (SD 389.6) minutes per week in light activity. None of the subjects met the WHO recommendations of 150 weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA. Age-, sex- and health status-adjusted results revealed no differences in PA between non-frail and frail older adults. Subjects spent significantly more sedentary time at home, than not at home. Non-frail subjects spent significantly more time not at home during moderate-to-vigorous activities, than at home. CONCLUSIONS: Objective assessment of PA in older adults revealed that most PA was of light intensity, and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA was very low. None of the older adults met the World Health Organization recommendations for PA. These levels of MVPA are much lower than generally reported based on self-reported PA. Future studies should employ objective methods, and age specific thresholds for healthy PA levels in older adults are needed. These results emphasize the need for effective strategies for healthy PA levels for the growing proportion of older adults.

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  • A direct association has been reported between sedentary time and time spent at home in elderly people.

    “a direct association has been reported between sedentary time and time spent at home in elderly people (84)”

    From Impact of Social Isolation Due to COVID-19 on Health in Older People: Mental and Physical Effects and Recommendations (2020) · cites this paper as [84]

    The Results section reports that both frail and non-frail older adults spent significantly more sedentary time at home than away from home. That supports a link between sedentary behaviour and being at home, but the paper reports a location comparison, not a direct association between how long an individual spends at home and their sedentary time. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Authors
Jansen, F. M., Prins, R. G., Etman, A., van der Ploeg, H. P., de Vries, S. I., van Lenthe, F. J., & Pierik, F. H.
Affiliations
  • Erasmus MC (NL)
  • Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (NL)
Corresponding author
Pierik, Frank H.
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2015-04-24
Volume
10
Issue
4
Pages
e0123168
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0123168
PMC
PMC4409218
OpenAlex
W2061131172
Cited by
79
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4
FWCI
6.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • TNO Repository (submittedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Repository hosted by TU Delft Library (TU Delft) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • ZonMw
  • Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1, MC_UU_12015/6)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Frailty in Older Adults
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention
Keywords
physical activity, older adults, frailty, sedentary behavior, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, accelerometer-measured activity, WHO physical activity guidelines, healthy aging
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Motor Activity, Time Factors, Geriatric Assessment, Frail Elderly, Public Health Surveillance

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