Accelerometry and older adults

BACKGROUND: Different tasks and proxy measurements have been employed to evaluate dynamic balance in older individuals. However, due to inherent limitations, results from most evaluations could hardly be taken as valid measurements of dynamic balance. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is the Equidyn smartphone application-based protocol valid and sensitive for assessment of dynamic balance in older adults? METHODS: Dynamic balance was evaluated in 52 physically active individuals, age range 60-80 years (M = 69...

We investigated the association of movement behavior patterns with cardiometabolic health, body composition, and functional fitness in older adults. A total of 242 older adults participated of this cross-sectional study. Sedentary time, light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), steps/day, and step cadence were assessed by accelerometry. The movement behavior patterns were derived by principal component analysis. Cardiometabolic health was defined by a metabolic syndrome score (cMetS)...

Little is known about physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) among nursing home residents although PA is known as a health promoter. This study examined PA, SB, and their predictors among nursing home residents (n = 63). Dependent variables were accelerometry-based PA and SB. Predictor variables included in a path analysis were age, sex, body mass index, Barthel Index, cognitive status (Mini-Mental State Examination), physical performance (hand grip strength and habitual walking speed), and well-being (World Health Organization-5 well-being index)...

BACKGROUND: People receiving hemodialysis experience high symptom burden that contributes to low functional status and poor health-related quality of life. Management of symptoms is a priority for individuals receiving hemodialysis but limited effective treatments exist. There is emerging evidence that exercise programming can improve several common dialysis-related symptoms. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of an exercise rehabilitation program on symptom burden in individuals receiving maintenance hemodialysis...

BACKGROUND: Optimal management of voluntary energy expenditure is crucial to the survival and reproductive success of wild animals. Nevertheless, a growing appreciation of inter-individual variation in the internal state driving movement suggests that individuals may follow different, yet equally optimal tactics under the same environmental conditions. However, few studies in wild populations have investigated the occurrence and demographic context of different contemporaneous energetic expenditure tactics...

PURPOSE: One's amount, intensity, and distribution of physical activity may have implications for whether it has positive or negative effects on pain and quality of life for older adults living with chronic pain. Thus, we investigated baseline patterns of stepping related to pain symptoms and health-related quality of life at baseline and over a 12-week follow-up period. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Participants were low-active older adults (69.54±6.74 years) with obesity and chronic pain who enrolled in one of two randomized controlled trials...

BACKGROUND: Low physical activity (PA) measured from accelerometers and low heart rate variability (HRV) measured from short-term ECG recordings are associated with worse cognitive function. Wearable long-term ECG monitors are now widely used. These monitors can provide long-term HRV data and, if embedded with an accelerometer, they can also provide PA data. Whether PA or HRV measured from long-term ECG monitors is associated with cognitive function among older adults is unknown. METHODS: Free-living PA and HRV were measured simultaneously over 14-days using the Zio ® XT Patch among 1590 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study [aged 72-94 years, 58% female, 32% Black]...

A good stair-climbing (SC) ability is crucial for independent living in older adults. A simple formula that estimates the mean power needed to ascend a flight of stairs in a predetermined time (i.e., total ascent duration) is easy to implement in practice, but lacks information on actual power values generated per step. The latter is possible with body-fixed sensors. This study aimed at comparing both methodologies and investigating their sensitivity to detect age-related differences. 318 participants (162 ♀; age 19-85 years) were tested on a 6-step staircase and two methodologies were used to estimate mean SC power: (1) a body-fixed sensor with automated detection of power production per step, and (2) a mathematic equation based on timed ascent duration, body mass and stair height...

Objectively measuring physical activity (PA) has consistently shown an association with reduced all-cause mortality risk in cross-sectional studies. However, the strength of this association may change over time. We quantify the time-varying, covariate-adjusted association between the total volume of PA and all-cause mortality over a 12-year follow-up period using Cox regression with a time varying effect of population-referenced quantile total activity count adjusted for traditional risk factors. Analyses focus on participants 50-84 years old with adequate accelerometer wear time and without missing covariates...

Previous evidence of increased difference of muscular strength between the dominant and non-dominant legs in older adults suggests the possibility of dissimilar balance control between the legs (between-leg asymmetry) associated with aging. In the current investigation, we evaluated between-leg asymmetries in older adults when performing quiet and dynamic balance tasks. Fifty-two physically active and healthy older adults within the age range of 60 to 80 years were recruited. Participants performed balance tasks in unipedal stance, including quiet standing and cyclic sway (rhythmic oscillation) of the non-supporting leg in the anteroposterior or mediolateral directions, producing foot displacements with amplitudes of 20 cm paced in 1 Hz through a metronome...

INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia is the age-associated loss of muscle mass and strength. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) plays a central role in both mitochondrial function and cellular ageing processes implicated in sarcopenia. NAD concentrations are low in older people with sarcopenia, and increasing skeletal muscle NAD concentrations may offer a novel therapy for this condition. Acipimox is a licensed lipid-lowering agent known to act as an NAD precursor. This open-label, uncontrolled, before-and-after proof-of-concept experimental medicine study will test whether daily supplementation with acipimox improves skeletal muscle NAD concentrations...

Among older people, walking difficulty results from actual and perceived declines in physical capacities and environmental requirements for walking. We investigated whether the physiological complexity of the gait cycle covaries with experience of walking difficulty. Walking difficulty, gait speed, and gait cycle complexity were evaluated among 702 community-dwelling older people aged 75, 80, and 85 years who took part in the six-minute walking test in the research laboratory. Walking difficulty for 500 m was self-reported...

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to test the association of rest-activity rhythm (intradaily variability and interdaily stability) with all-cause mortality in an older adult cohort in Brazil. It also assesses whether the amount of time spent at each intensity level (i.e., physical activity and nocturnal sleep) interferes with this association. METHODS: This cohort study started in 2014 with older adults (≥60 years). We investigated deaths from all causes that occurred until April 2017...

BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle energetics decline with age, and physical activity (PA) has been shown to offset these declines in older adults. Yet, many studies reporting these effects were based on self-reported PA or structured exercise interventions. Therefore, we examined the associations of accelerometry-measured and self-reported PA and sedentary behavior (SB) with skeletal muscle energetics and explored the extent to which PA and SB would attenuate the associations of age with muscle energetics...

Sedentary behaviour (SB) and physical activity (PA) have been shown to be independent modulators of healthy ageing. We thus investigated the impact of activity monitor placement on the accuracy of detecting SB and PA in older adults, as well as a novel random forest algorithm trained on data from older persons. Four monitor types (ActiGraph wGT3X-BT, ActivPAL3c VT, GENEActiv Original, and DynaPort MM+) were simultaneously worn on five anatomical sites during ten different activities by a sample of twenty older adults (70...

BACKGROUND: Increasing physical activity (PA) is an effective strategy to slow reductions in cortical volume and maintain cognitive function in older adulthood. However, PA does not exist in isolation, but coexists with sleep and sedentary behaviour to make up the 24-hour day. We investigated how the balance of all three behaviours (24-hour time-use composition) is associated with grey matter volume in healthy older adults, and whether grey matter volume influences the relationship between 24-hour time-use composition and cognitive function...

BACKGROUND: Older adults are highly sedentary, and too much sedentary behavior (SB) is associated with negative health effects, but little is known about SB patterns and their associations with functional status. AIMS: To examine the association between objectively measured sedentary behavior time (SBT) and sedentary behavior fragmentation (SBF) and functional status in older adults using the National Health Aging Trends Study (NHATS) dataset, a nationally representative sample from 2021...

OBJECTIVES: Using a multi-ethnic Asian population, this study assessed adherence to prescribed home exercise programs, explored factors predicting adherence, and evaluated whether home exercise adherence was associated with physical activity. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted in 68 older adults (aged ≥65 years) from two geriatric outpatient clinics in Singapore, who were receiving tailored home exercises while undergoing 6 weeks of outpatient physical therapy for falls prevention...

BACKGROUND: Fear of Falling (FOF) is common among community-dwelling older adults and is associated with increased fall-risk, reduced activity, and gait modifications. OBJECTIVE: In this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationships between FOF and gait quality. METHODS: Older adults (N=232; age 77±6; 65 % females) reported FOF by a single yes/no question. Gait quality was quantified as (1) harmonic ratio (smoothness) and other time-frequency spatiotemporal variables from triaxial accelerometry (Vertical-V, Mediolateral-ML, Anterior-Posterior -AP) during six-minute walk; (2) gait speed, step-time CoV (variability), and walk-ratio (step-length/cadence) on a 4-m instrumented walkway...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the relationships between individual and environmental variables and outdoor walking (OW) in older adults with OW limitations through verifying a conceptual model. METHODS: Baseline data from 205 older adults participating in a randomized trial of a park-based OW program were analyzed using structural equation modeling. We evaluated a three latent factor model: OW (accelerometry and self-report); individual factors (balance; leg strength; walking self-confidence, speed and endurance; mental health; education; income; car access); and environmental factors (neighbourhood walkability components)...