Relationship between changes in functional fitness and physical activities during three years in the elderly

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the changes in the functional fitness and the level of physical activities during three years in the community-dwelling elderly. Subjects were 37 aged persons who were 60 years old and older, and participated in the health promotion program and recorded their physical activities in daily life during 3 years from 1995 to 1998. The measurements were step counts in daily life with a pedometer, the functional fitness (sitting-and-standing, zig-zag walking, hand working, self-care working, and total score of functional fitness), and daily living activities (house keeping, exercise and sports, social activities). Multivariate analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between the change in the functional fitness and the level of physical activities during 3 years. With the results of change in physical activities, the average step counts per year significantly decreased during 3 years and the average step counts in each season showed a significant seasonable change which was the lowest in winter and the highest in summer in each year. With the functional fitness, significant improvements were observed in the total score of the functional fitness and the time for zig-zag walking in males and females, and self-care working in females during 3 years. Significant relationships between the average step counts and the changes in the total score of the functional fitness, or in the time for zig-zag walking during 3 years were observed. The average step counts during 3 years showed a significant association to the level of physical exercise and sports activities in daily life. These results showed that the maintaining and increasing the level of physical activities in daily life is important for aged persons to maintain the level of the functional fitness for longer period in senescence.