Background: Sedentary behavior (SB) and physical activity (PA) are important determinants of health in older adults. This study aimed to describe the composition of accelerometer-measured SB and PA in older adults, to explore self-reported context-specific SB, and to assess sociodemographic and functional correlates of engaging in higher levels of SB in participants of a multicenter study including four European countries. Method: One thousand three hundred and sixty community-dwelling older adults from the SITLESS study (61.8% women; 75.3 ± 6.3 years) completed a self-reported SB questionnaire and wore an ActiGraph accelerometer for 7 days. Accelerometer-determined compositional descriptive statistics were calculated. A fixed-effects regression analysis was conducted to assess the sociodemographic (country, age, sex, civil status, education, and medications) and functional (body mass index and gait speed) correlates. Results: Older adults spent 78.8% of waking time in SB, 18.6% in light-intensity PA, and 2.6% in moderate-to-vigorous PA. Accelerometry showed that women engaged in more light-intensity PA and walking and men engaged in higher amounts of moderate-to-vigorous PA. Watching television and reading accounted for 47.2% of waking time. Older age, being a man, single, taking more medications, being obese and overweight, and having a slower gait speed were statistically significant correlates of more sedentary time. Conclusions: The high amount of SB of our participants justifies the need to develop and evaluate interventions to reduce sitting time. A clinically relevant change in gait speed can decrease almost 0.45 percentage points of sedentary time. The distribution of context-specific sedentary activities by country and sex showed minor differences, albeit worth noting.
Physical activity is an important determinant of health in later life. The public health restrictions in response to COVID-19 have interrupted habitual physical activity behaviours in older adults. In response, numerous exercise programmes have been developed for older adults, many involving chair-based exercise. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesise the effects of chair-based exercise on the health of older adults. Ovid Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PyscInfo and SPORTDiscus databases were searched from inception to 1 April 2020. Chair-based exercise programmes in adults ≥50 years, lasting for at least 2 weeks and measuring the impact on physical function were included. Risk of bias of included studies were assessed using Cochrane risk of bias tool v2. Intervention content was described using TiDieR Criteria. Where sufficient studies (≥3 studies) reported data on an outcome, a random effects meta-analysis was performed. In total, 25 studies were included, with 19 studies in the meta-analyses. Seventeen studies had a low risk of bias and five had a high risk of bias. In this systematic review including 1388 participants, results demonstrated that chair-based exercise programmes improve upper extremity (handgrip strength: MD = 2.10; 95% CI = 0.76, 3.43 and 30 s arm curl test: MD = 2.82; 95% CI = 1.34, 4.31) and lower extremity function (30 s chair stand: MD 2.25; 95% CI = 0.64, 3.86). The findings suggest that chair-based exercises are effective and should be promoted as simple and easily implemented activities to maintain and develop strength for older adults.
25 April 2020 in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Background: Evidence suggests that sedentary behaviour (SB) is associated with poor health outcomes. SB at any age may have significant consequences for health and well-being and interventions targeting SB are accumulating. Therefore, the need to review the effects of multicomponent, complex interventions that incorporate effective strategies to reduce SB are essential. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted investigating the impact of interventions targeting SB across the lifespan. Six databases were searched and two review authors independently screened studies for eligibility, completed data extraction and assessed the risk of bias and complexity of each of the included studies. Results: A total of 77 adult studies (n=62, RCTs) and 84 studies (n=62, RCTs) in children were included. The findings demonstrated that interventions in adults when compared to active controls resulted in non-significant reductions in SB, although when compared to inactive controls significant reductions were found in both the short (MD -56.86; 95%CI -74.10, -39.63; n=4632; I2 83%) and medium-to-long term (MD -20.14; 95%CI -34.13, -6.16; n=4537; I2 65%). The findings demonstrated that interventions in children when compared to active controls may lead to relevant reductions in daily sedentary time in the short-term (MD -59.90; 95%CI -102.16, -17.65; n=267; I2 86%), while interventions in children when compared to inactive controls may lead to relevant reductions in the short-term (MD -25.86; 95%CI -40.77, -10.96; n=9480; I2 98%) and medium-to-long term (MD -14.02; 95%CI -19.49, -8.55; n=41,138; I2 98%). The assessment of complexity suggested that interventions may need to be suitably complex to address the challenges of a complex behaviour such as SB, but demonstrated that a higher complexity score is not necessarily associated with better outcomes in terms of sustained long-term changes. Conclusions: Interventions targeting reductions in SB have been shown to be successful, especially environmental interventions in both children and adults. More needs to be known about how best to optimise intervention effects. Future intervention studies should apply more rigorous methods to improve research quality, considering larger sample sizes, randomised controlled designs and valid and reliable measures of SB.
There are challenges for researchers and clinicians to select the most appropriate physical activity tool, and a balance between precision and feasibility is needed. Currently it is unclear which physical activity tool should be used to assess physical activity in Bronchiectasis. The aim of this research is to compare assessment methods (pedometer and IPAQ) to our criterion method (ActiGraph) for the measurement of physical activity dimensions in Bronchiectasis (BE), and to assess their feasibility and acceptability. Patients in this analysis were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. The ActiGraph and pedometer were worn for seven consecutive days and the IPAQ was completed for the same period. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 20 (IBM). Descriptive statistics were used; the percentage agreement between ActiGraph and the other measures were calculated using limits of agreement. Feedback about the feasibility of the activity monitors and the IPAQ was obtained. There were 55 (22 male) data sets available. For step count there was no significant difference between the ActiGraph and Pedometer, however, total physical activity time (mins) as recorded by the ActiGraph was significantly higher than the pedometer (mean ± SD, 232 (75) vs. 63 (32)). Levels of agreement between the two devices was very good for step count (97% agreement); and variation in the levels of agreement were within accepted limits of ±2 standard deviations from the mean value. IPAQ reported more bouted- moderate - vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [mean, SD; 167(170) vs 6(9) mins/day], and significantly less sedentary time than ActiGraph [mean, SD; 362(115) vs 634(76) vmins/day]. There were low levels of agreement between the two tools (57% sedentary behaviour; 0% MVPA10+), with IPAQ under-reporting sedentary behaviour and over-reporting MVPA10+ compared to ActiGraph. The monitors were found to be feasible and acceptable by participants and researchers; while the IPAQ was accepta ble to use, most patients required assistance to complete it. Accurate measurement of physical activity is feasible in BE and will be valuable for future trials of therapeutic interventions. ActiGraph or pedometer could be used to measure simple daily step counts, but ActiGraph was superior as it measured intensity of physical activity and was a more precise measure of time spent walking. The IPAQ does not appear to represent an accurate measure of physical activity in this population. Clinical Trials Registration Number NCT01569009 : Physical Activity in Bronchiectasis.
The impact of bronchiectasis on sedentary behaviour and physical activity is unknown. It is important to explore this to identify the need for physical activity interventions and how to tailor interventions to this patient population. We aimed to explore the patterns and correlates of sedentary behaviour and physical activity in bronchiectasis. Physical activity was assessed in 63 patients with bronchiectasis using an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer over seven days. Patients completed: questionnaires on health-related quality-of-life and attitudes to physical activity (questions based on an adaption of the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behaviour change); spirometry; and the modified shuttle test (MST). Multiple linear regression analysis using forward selection based on likelihood ratio statistics explored the correlates of sedentary behaviour and physical activity dimensions. Between-group analysis using independent sample t-tests were used to explore differences for selected variables. Fifty-five patients had complete datasets. Average daily time, mean(standard deviation) spent in sedentary behaviour was 634(77)mins, light-lifestyle physical activity was 207(63)mins and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was 25(20)mins. Only 11% of patients met recommended guidelines. Forced expiratory volume in one-second percentage predicted (FEV1% predicted) and disease severity were not correlates of sedentary behaviour or physical activity. For sedentary behaviour, decisional balance ‘pros’ score was the only correlate. Performance on the MST was the strongest correlate of physical activity. In addition to the MST, there were other important correlate variables for MVPA accumulated in ≥10-minute bouts (QOL-B Social Functioning) and for activity energy expenditure (Body Mass Index and QOL-B Respiratory Symptoms). Patients with bronchiectasis demonstrated a largely inactive lifestyle and few met the recommended physical activity guidelines. Exercise capacity was the strongest correlate of physical activity, and dimensions of the QOL-B were also important. FEV1% predicted and disease severity were not correlates of sedentary behaviour or physical activity. The inclusion of a range of physical activity dimensions could facilitate in-depth exploration of patterns of physical activity. This study demonstrates the need for interventions targeted at reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity, and provides information to tailor interventions to the bronchiectasis population. NCT01569009 (“Physical Activity in Bronchiectasis”)
9 July 2020 in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
Introduction: Regular moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is associated with improved mental health, but the evidence for the effect of reducing sedentary behavior (SB) or increasing light PA (LPA) in older adults is lacking. Using isotemporal substitution (IS) models, the aim of this paper was to investigate the effect of substituting SB with LPA or MVPA on associations with mental health in older adults.Methods: Data from 1360 older adults (mean age 75.18 years) in four countries were utilized. PA and SB was measured using ActiGraph wGT3X‐BT + accelerometers worn for 7 days. Self‐rated mental health was measured using the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). IS models estimated cross‐sectional associations when 30 minutes of one behavior was substituted with another. Models were adjusted for age, sex, marital status, and educational attainment.Results: Substituting 30 minutes of SB with LPA (β −.37; 95% CI −0.42, −0.32) or MVPA (β −.14; 95% CI −0.21, −0.07) and substituting LPA with MVPA (β −.11; 95% CI −0.18, −0.04) were associated with improvements in anxiety. However, substituting 30 minutes of SB with LPA (β .55; 95% CI 0.49, 0.62) was associated with increased depression.Conclusion: Replacing 30 minutes of SB with LPA or MVPA was associated with improved anxiety symptoms in older adults. Greater benefits were observed when shifting SB and LPA to MVPA.