Longitudinal study of the benefit of exercise training for the prevention of age-related decline in activity of daily living and cognitive function

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This research was conducted to find a suitable exercise training program to prevent age-related functional decline in older adults. The cohort is members of athletic sports club branched all over Japan : 4,700 people, 16-88 years old (average age 54.8 y/o). We followed physical fitness, independence of ADL, cognitive function, depressive mood, participation in social activities and others. After three years of follow-up period, we obtained following findings. (1) Vitality scale (VS) provides a reliable and valid measure for the QOL of the healthy elderly individuals, and exercise appears beneficial for preventing age-associated decline in VS. (2) Regular exercise for a long period prevents age-associated decline in VS, thereby contributing to care prevention for elderly individuals. (3) Regular exercise in climacteric women gives various benefits, such as decrease in body fat, increase in bone mass, prevention of arteriosclerosis, and balance capability. (4) Appropriate exercise can improve multiple (physical, metabolic, and psychological) functions of healthy elderly individuals. (5) For elderly people who do exercise regularly, past history of fall, tripping, and age are the independent predictors of future falls. 【○!6】 From an animal study, regular exercise prevents atherosclerosis by augmenting antioxidant capacity.Our studies established a useful measure to evaluate the QOL of healthy middle-life and elderly individuals. The vitality scale will give benefit to identify frail people who will possibly enter into care-need status. With this scale, exercise was shown to prevent age-related decline in VS. We were also able to demonstrate various benefits exercise can give, such as anti-arteriosclerotic effect and increase in bone mass. We are still pursuing this cohort, and hope to keep obtaining important data about the effect of exercise.