RESEARCH ARTICLE


The Association Between Different Kinds of Exercise and Quality of Life in the Long Term. Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial on the Elderly



Gioia Mura1, *, Federica Sancassiani1, Gian Mario Migliaccio2, Giorgia Collu2, Mauro Giovanni Carta1
1 Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Italy;
2 CONI Italian Olympic Committee, Sardinia, Italy

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2014
Volume: 10
First Page: 36
Last Page: 41
Publisher ID: CPEMH-10-36
DOI: 10.2174/1745017901410010036

Article History:

Received Date: 17/12/2013
Revision Received Date: 6/2/2014
Acceptance Date: 10/2/2014
Electronic publication date: 7/3/2014
Collection year: 2014

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Creative Commons License
© Mura et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Italy; Tel: +39070 6093498; Fax: 0706093498; E-mail: mura.gioia@virgilio.it


Abstract

Introduction:

Quality of Life (QoL) tends to decrease with age. Exercise has been shown to be effective in improving some psychosocial features related to QoL. We carried out a randomized controlled trial to verify the long-term efficacy of an intensive fitness program versus a lighter program on the QoL of an elderly sample, compared to QoL of a large normative sample.

Methods:

Participants aged ≥65 years were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion either to a vigorous physical activity program group (VAG) or to a postural gymnastic group (PGG). Depressive symptoms were screened by PHQ-9. QoL assessment was done by SF-12. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to test differences between the two groups over time. Comparison with the normative sample was carried out by means of ANOVA 1-way.

Results:

Both VAG and PGG showed low PHQ9 scores at the beginning and at the end of the trial, indicating the absence of depressive symptoms. At the end of the study, both groups had a higher level of QoL, measured by means of SF-12, than the normative standardized sample. While SF-12 scores for both groups decreased slightly 12 weeks after the end of the trial, only the VAG group maintained significantly-higher scores than those of the normative sample.

Conclusions:

A vigorous physical activity program group might be associated with better maintenance of results over time as compared to a postural gymnastic program. These results require future confirmation by further studies on large samples.

Keywords: : Elderly, exercise, physical activity, quality of life.