An assessment of the relationship between the level of physical activity and the risk of falls and depression in elderly adults aged 60 - 75 years from the Podkarpackie region.

• Authors: Natalia Wołoszyn , Agnieszka Wiśniowska-Szurlej , Bernard Sozański
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Introduction Almost all societies of the world are ageing. One of the most common problems of the elderly are falls and mobility disorders. They may result in disability and in loss of functional independence. We conducted the study to assess the relationship between the level of physical activity and the risk of falls and depression in adults aged 60-75 years. Materials and Methods We used the random route method and included 500 subjects from southeast Poland. We measured physical activity with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and we assessed the risk of falls with the Tinetti test. To assess depressive states, we used the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). We used a questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic and anthropometric data. Results The mean weekly energy expense (metabolic equivalent of task - MET) of the studied population measured with the IPAQ was 823.88 MET min/week. We found a statistically significant relationship between the level of physical activity and the risk of falls and depression in the studied population. Subjects with insufficient physical activity had statistically higher risk of falls (p=0.0373), and had depression statistically more often (p=0.0003). Conclusion Subsequent studies should aim at establishing an optimal training programme for the elderly. It is important for subjects over 60 years of age to know that physical activity is crucial for maintaining good health and functional ability, as well as for subjective wellbeing.

Keywords

EN

aged; physical performance; depressive disorder; falls risk

• Journal: Advances in Rehabilitation
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 41-48

Dates

published

2018-08-30

Contributors

author

Natalia Wołoszyn

author

Agnieszka Wiśniowska-Szurlej

author

Bernard Sozański

Identifiers

DOI

10.5114/areh.2018.77936