Changes and differences in functional fitness among older adults over a four year period

Abstract

Background and objective: Functional fitness is an important task in the health of the older adults. The present study investigated the changes and differences in functional fitness of young and middle older adults by a 4 years age increase. Methods: We performed a longitudinal and cross-sectional study of 261 male older adults who were working as school guardians at elementary schools in Seoul, Korea and had their yearly functional fitness for four years from 2014 to 2017. Participants were young-older adults (n = 98), early middle-older adults (n = 100), and late middle-older adults (n = 63). Functional fitness was measurement by muscle strength (grip strength), muscle endurance test (30-seconds chair stand up), cardiorespiratory endurance test (2-minutes step), flexibility test (sit & reach), agility test (20-seconds side step), and dynamic balance (3-m Up & Go) over a 4 year period. Results: Our study showed that grip strength (P < 0.001), 30-seconds chair stand (P < 0.001), 2-minutes step (P < 0.001), sit & reach (P < 0.001), 20-seconds side step (P < 0.001) were found to decrease with aging in all groups. By contrast, 3-m Up & Go was found to increase (P < 0.001). For each measurement year, middle-older adults on grip strength (P < 0.001), 30-seconds chair stand (P < 0.001), 2-minutes step (P < 0.001), 20-seconds side step (P < 0.001) were lower, whereas that on 3-m Up & Go (P < 0.001) was higher compared with young-older adults. Conclusion: The functional fitness of older adults was found to decrease with aging, and that between young-older adults and middle-older adults was found to be different.