Early Detection of Disability and Health Promotion for Community-dwelling Elderly

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study evaluates the effects of exercise intervention on muscle strength and walking speed for the community-dwelling elderly. Half of the participants will receive exercise training, while the other half will maintain their usual activities of daily living.

Detailed Description
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Physical inactivity can result in physical frailty and sarcopenia. Physical frailty and sarcopenia are two common and mostly overlapping geriatric conditions, which may cause negative consequences of aging, such as disability, hospitalization and mortality. Regular physical activity has been suggested to maintain or improve functional capacity and body composition, as well as delay aging process. Nevertheless, inactivity prevalence still significantly increases among older adults, especially those with a disability. One of the probable reasons is that the use of physical activities or exercise interventions is not tailored to the needs and capabilities of the elderly.

Official Title
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Department of Physical Therapy, Tzu Chi University

Conditions
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Elderly, Sarcopenia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: exercise training


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: age greater than 50 years able to follow simple instructions willing to participate and sign consent form Exclusion Criteria: unstable angina or epilepsy severe visual deficits cognitive dysfunction other musculoskeletal conditions that will limit mobility

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 50 Years
Maximum Age: 80 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: exercise training<br>Participants in the exercise training group received a 12-week exercise training. | Other: exercise training<br>* Aerobic exercises, strengthening exercises, flexibility training for 60min, twice a week for 12 weeks<br>|
| No Intervention: control<br>Participants in the control group did not receive any specific training programs instead of maintaining their usual activities of daily living. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Walking speed | Participants are asked to walk along a 14 m hallway. The time taken to the middle 10 m is recorded to calculate walking speed (m/s). | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 
| Muscle strength | Muscle strength is assessed using hand-hold Dynamometers | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Timed up and go test | Participants are asked to stand up, walk 3 m, turn around a cone, and return to a sitting position | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 
| Walking endurance | Participants are asked to walk back and forth along a 20-meter corridor and to cover the maximum distance possible in six minutes | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 
| Sit-to-stand test | Participants are asked to stand up and sit down 5 times. | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 
| Berg balance scale | It consists of 14 items, including sitting unsupported, standing unsupported, standing with eyes closed, standing with feet together, standing on one foot, turning to look behind, retrieving objective from floor, random standing, reaching forward with an outsrptretched arm, sit to stand, stand to sit, transfer, turning 360 degrees, stool stepping, scored from 0 to 4, 0 indicates the lowest level of function and 4 the highest level of function. Total Score = 56. | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 
| Gait kinematics | Gait kinematics are assessed by angular displacement of lower limbs using shoe-worn inertial measurement unit based device | Change from baseline at 12 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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elderly, early detection, health promotion, community-dwelling