Older people's perspectives on participation in physical activity: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative literature

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Eccentric torque-producing capacity is influenced by muscle length in older healthy adults

Considering the importance of muscle strength to functional capacity in the elderly, the study investigated the effects of age on isokinetic performance and torque production as a function of muscle length. Eleven younger (24.2±2.9years) and seventeen older men (62.7±2.5years) were subjected to concentric and eccentric isokinetic knee extension/flexion at 60°.s-1 and 120°.s-1 through a functional range of motion. The older group presented lower peak torque (Nm) than the young group for both isokinetic contraction types (age effect, p<0.001). Peak torque deficits in the older group were near 30% and 29% for concentric and eccentric contraction, respectively. Concentric peak torque was lower at 120.s-1 than at 60.s-1 for both groups (angular velocity effect, p<0.001). Eccentric knee extension torque was the only exercise tested that showed an interaction effect between age and muscle length (p<0.001), which suggested different torque responses to the muscle length between groups. Compared with the young group, the eccentric knee extension torque was 22% to 56% lower in the older group, with the deficits being lower in the shortened muscle length (22-27%) and higher (33-56%) in stretched muscle length. In older men, the production of eccentric knee strength seems to be muscle length-dependent. At more stretched positions, older subjects lose the capacity to generate eccentric knee extension torque. More studies are needed to assess the mechanisms involved in eccentric strength preservation with aging and its relationship with muscle length.

Effects of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults

Saccadic eye movements have been shown to affect posture by decreasing the magnitude of body sway in young adults. However, there is no evidence of how the search for visual information that occurs during eye movements affects postural control in older adults. The purpose of the present study was to determine the influence of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults while they stood on 2 different bases of support. Twelve older adults stood upright in 70-s trials under 2 stance conditions (wide and narrow) and 3 gaze conditions (fixation, saccadic eye movements at 0.5 Hz, and saccadic eye movements at 1.1 Hz). Head and trunk sway amplitude and mean sway frequency were measured in both the anterior/posterior (AP) and medial/lateral (ML) directions. The results showed that the amplitude of body sway was reduced during saccades compared with fixation, as previously observed in young adults. However, older adults exhibited similar sway amplitude and frequency in the AP direction under the wide and narrow stance conditions, which is different from observations in young adults, who display larger sway in a narrow stance compared with a wide stance while performing saccades. These results suggest that although older adults are affected by saccadic eye movements by a decrease in the amplitude of body sway, as observed in young adults, they present a more rigid postural control strategy that does not allow larger sway during a more challenging stance condition.

Diversity of eating patterns and obesity in older adults: a new challenge

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evaluation of the Flanagan Quality of Life Scale for older adults

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Prevalence of inadequacy intake for older people: the use o National Cancer Institute (NCI) method

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Validation of a FFQ (Food Frequency Questionaire) for older people

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Factors associated with physical-activity performance by older individuals in a medium-sized city in São Paulo State, Brazil

Physical activity has been scientifically discussed as fundamental in the process of healthy ageing. Hence, this study aimed at determining the factors that influence older people to perform physical activities. The complete IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire) was applied to a population-based sample consisting of 364 elderly persons in the city of Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Days of physical activity performed by the older people were considered by taking into account household and leisure activities. Models for count data were fitted by including socio-demographic variables as well as those related to life satisfaction. It was shown that housework physical-activity performance is associated with female, who predominantly showed to be more active in all levels. Male seemed to be more predisposed to perform lighter recreation, sports and leisure-time physical activities, such as walking. Additionally, poor schooling showed to be decisive for not performing physical activities both at home and during leisure.