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At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

The effect of Tai Chi Quan and computerized balance training on postural stability in older subjects. Atlanta FICSIT Group. Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies on Intervention Techniques.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study explored whether two exercise programs would affect the ability to minimize postural sway of 72 relatively inactive, older subjects who participated in the Atlanta FICSIT trial. SUBJECTS: Subjects were randomly assigned to (1) a computerized balance training group, (2) a tai chi group, or (3) an educational group serving as a control for exercise. Each group consisted of 24 members. METHODS: All subjects were evaluated under four postural conditions before, immediately after, and 4 months following their respective interventions, each of which was given over 15 weeks. RESULTS: Platform balance measures revealed greater stability after training among subjects in the balance training group but little change in stability among subjects in the tai chi and educational group. Subjects in the tai chi group were less afraid of falling after training compared with subjects in other groups with similar covariates. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: Unlike computerized balance training, tai chi does not improve measures of postural stability. Because tai chi delayed onset to first or multiple falls in older individuals, this effect does not appear to be associated with measures of enhanced postural stability. Tai chi may gain its success, in part, from promoting confidence without reducing sway rather than primarily facilitating a reduction in sway-based measures.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2003

Reproduction and longevity among the British peerage: the effect of frailty and health selection.

Whether a cost of reproduction exists among humans is still questionable. A major study of aristocratic British families finds a significant positive correlation between parity and late-life mortality, which indicates a trade-off between reproduction and longevity. This result is supported by four other studies, while earlier studies have not found a relationship or came to the opposite conclusion. We show that in natural fertility populations the relationship between fertility and late-life mortality cannot be studied correctly without considering the effects of differences in health and of mortality selection during childbearing ages because these two effects lead to a dampening of the true relationship. If these effects are controlled in Hollingsworth's genealogy of the British peerage a significant trade-off between reproduction and longevity exists for females but not for males.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

The effect of age and frailty upon blood esterase activities and their response to dietary supplementation.

1. The aims of this study were two-fold. First, to define ranges of blood esterase activities in three groups, namely young subjects, fit community dwelling elderly and frail, chronically hospitalised elderly subjects, and second, to determine whether low blood esterase activities in the frail patients could be altered by increasing their nutritional intake. 2. Plasma cholinesterase, aspirin esterase, paraoxonase and phenylacetate esterase activities were all significantly lower in the frail elderly compared with the young and fit elderly volunteers. The activity of red blood cell esterase was not different in the frail elderly. 3. Fourteen frail elderly patients were randomly assigned to receive either hospital meal provision plus supplemental feeding with Build-up (Nestle) and Maxijul (SHS Ltd) or hospital provision alone for 8 weeks. Dietary intake was measured for all patients at the start of the study and at week 8. Measurements of blood esterase (cholinesterase, phenylacetate esterase, paraoxonase, aspirin esterase and red blood cell esterase), albumin and anthropometric indices (weight, triceps skinfold thickness and mid arm circumference) were made before the study and repeated at week 4 and 8. 4. There was a significant increase in plasma cholinesterase at week 4 (P < 0.05) but this was not statistically significant at week 8. There were no significant changes in any of the other esterase activities or anthropometric measurements. 5. We conclude that the lower esterase activities of the frail chronically hospitalised elderly do not respond to dietary supplementation for a period of 8 weeks with routinely available products. The hypothesis that lower esterase activities are the direct result of undernutrition which would be corrected by dietary supplementation has not been supported by this study.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

The Boston FICSIT study: the effects of resistance training and nutritional supplementation on physical frailty in the oldest old.

Research indicates that lower extremity muscle weakness in the elderly is consistently related to impaired mobility and fall risk. Reversible components of the muscle weakness of aging include underuse syndromes and undernutrition, both of which are prevalent in nursing home populations. The Boston FICSIT study is a nursing home-based intervention to improve muscle strength through progressive resistance training of the lower extremities and/or multi-nutrient supplementation in chronically institutionalized subjects aged 70-100. Baseline measurements of falls, medical status, psychological variables, functional status, nutritional intake and status, body composition, muscle mass and morphology, muscle function, and gait and balance are taken. The nursing home residents are then randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups for 10 weeks: (1) high intensity progressive resistance training of the hip and knee extensors 3 days per week; (2) multi-nutrient supplementation with a 360-kcal high carbohydrate, low fat liquid supplement every day; (3) a combination of groups (1) and (2); and (4) a control group. Both non-supplemented groups receive a liquid placebo every day, and both non-exercising groups attend three sessions of "leisure activities" every week in order to control for the attentional aspects of the exercise and nutritional interventions. At the end of the 10-week period, all baseline measurements are re-assessed.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Frailty and hospitalization of long-term stay nursing home residents.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between characteristics of older, long-term stay nursing home patients and hospitalization. DESIGN: A cohort study. SETTING: One hundred three proprietary nursing homes. PARTICIPANTS: All residents of these nursing homes aged 65 or older admitted between January 1, 1991, and December 30, 1993, who had no transitions out of the nursing home during the first 6 months of their stay. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among the cohort of 3782 residents, 931 (25%) were hospitalized at least once during the second 6 months of their nursing home stay. In a logistic regression model, severe functional impairment (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01, 1.43), worsening ADL self-performance (AOR 1.22, 95% CI 1.04, 1.43), presence of a decubitus ulcer (AOR 1.62, 95% CI 1.17, 2.24), presence of a feeding tube (AOR 2.03, 95% CI 1.54, 2.67), primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure (AOR 1.61, 95% CI 1.11, 2.34), and primary diagnosis of respiratory disease (AOR 1.77, 95% CI 1.24, 2.54) were associated with hospitalization. No form of advance directive was associated with a lower rate of hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Physically frail patients, who may be the least likely to benefit from hospitalization, are the most likely to be hospitalized. The lack of an association between "Do not-hospitalize" orders and lower rates of hospitalization suggests that there are substantial barriers to providing acute care in the nursing home. The association between recent functional decline, primary diagnoses of congestive heart failure and respiratory disease, and hospitalization indicates, however, that certain patient groups may be targeted successfully to reduce hospitalization rates.

Activities of Daily Living↗