Impact of an Assessment Based Exercise Program on Functional Fitness and Implications to Independent Living in Older Adults

PURPOSE: To examine in older adults the impact of assessment-based exercise on longevity, compression of morbidity, and length of time in Health Care Center (HCC).

METHOD: 135 Independently Living Residents at a Continuing Care Retirement Community were followed for nine years and assigned to one of two groups: Regular Exercisers (RE) and Non Exercisers (NE). Those labeled as RE (n = 75) exercised on average 2–3 times per week following a recommended program. The NE residents did not participate in regular exercise (n = 60).

RESULTS: A comparison of NE vs. RE revealed the following: Passed away: 67% (M age 90.6yrs) vs. 52% (M age 90.7yrs); still living 33% (avg. age 88.8 yrs), 48% (avg. age 90.0 yrs) vs., with 10% from both groups living in the HCC. Utilization of the HCC was 3.5 times greater by NE (347 days) than the RE (98 days), the frequency of admission to the HCC was also 70% greater in the NE group (1.55 vs. 0.91). On the last admission to the HCC before death, the NE group spent four times more days in the HCC than the RE group (316 vs. 87 days).

CONCLUSION: Regular participation by older adults in physical exercise designed to promote Functional Fitness compressed their morbidity by living independently on average 8 months longer prior to their last admission to the HCC before death and reduced the total time spent in the HCC by a factor of four. The impact on longevity is inconclusive.