Household Activity in Relation to Functional Fitness in A Sample of Taiwanese Older Women

Abstract

Physical inactivity is closely related to the age-induced decline in body function. While studies have shown the effects of physical activity (PA) in the improvement of physical functioning for older people, it is still unknown, however, the relationship between categories of physical activity and physical function, more specifically, functional fitness (FF), in the sample of female elderly. PURPOSE: To investigate the collective relationships between categories of PA and indicators of FF in a sample of Taiwanese older women. METHODS: One hundred seventy-nine older women(66.9 ± 8.4 yo) resided in Taipei/Taoyuan Areas were recruited in the study. The Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) was used to collect the data for categories of PA including leisure, household, and occupational activity. The field-based Senior Fitness Test (SFT), namely body mass index (BMI), upper and lower body strength (30-s arm curl test and 30-s chair stand test), upper and lower body flexibility (back scratch test and chair sit-and-reach test), agility/dynamic balance (8-foot timed-up-and-go test), and aerobic endurance (2-minute walk-in-place), were conducted to measure the FF of the subjects. Canonical correlation was used to determine the multivariate association among categories of PA and parameters of FF. RESULTS: Only one significant canonical variate pair was derived from this analysis with RC=0.40 (p<.05). This canonical variate pair relates a higher structure coefficient on household activity (-.88) than leisure and occupational activity (-.50 and -.30 respectively) in the PA category variables, with strong correlations on lower body strength and aerobic endurance (-.70 and -.76 respectively) and moderate correlations on upper body strength, lower body flexibility and agility/dynamic balance (-.66, -.47 and -.48 respectively) in the FF parameter variables. CONCLUSIONS: Household physical activity relates more strongly than leisure and occupational activities to FF for older women in Taiwan. The surprising higher physical functioning benefit from activity of house chores for the Taiwanese female elderly, though may not be originally intended, may be gift from the traditional social role of women in the ethnic culture.