Cargando…
Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes
BACKGROUND: While regular physical activity is associated with reduced mortality and morbidity in general populations, health outcomes and functional capacity related to upholding strenuous endurance exercise beyond the age of 65 years are only sparsely studied. The aim of this study is to assess as...
Autores principales: | , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10262516/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37308811 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04099-3 |
_version_ | 1785058070358917120 |
---|---|
author | Myrstad, Marius Johansen, Kristoffer Robin Sørensen, Eivind Ranhoff, Anette Hylen |
author_facet | Myrstad, Marius Johansen, Kristoffer Robin Sørensen, Eivind Ranhoff, Anette Hylen |
author_sort | Myrstad, Marius |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: While regular physical activity is associated with reduced mortality and morbidity in general populations, health outcomes and functional capacity related to upholding strenuous endurance exercise beyond the age of 65 years are only sparsely studied. The aim of this study is to assess associations of prolonged strenuous endurance sport practice with ageing, functional decline, morbidity and longevity among older recreational endurance athletes, during long-term follow-up. METHODS: Prospective cohort study of older recreational endurance athletes in Norway. All skiers aged 65 years and older who participated in a long-distance endurance competition, the annual 54-km Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in 2009 or 2010, were invited. The participants answered an extensive baseline questionnaire about lifestyle habits, including leisure-time physical activity and endurance sport participation, diseases, medication use and physical and mental health, with follow-up questionnaires planned every fifth year until 2029. New participants may be invited with the aim to increase the study size. Endpoints such as all-cause and disease-specific mortality, incidence and cumulative prevalence of diseases, use of medication, physical and mental health and functional decline will be assessed subsequently. Out of 658 invited skiers (51 women), 551(84%) completed the baseline questionnaire and were included in the study. The mean age was 68.8 years (median 68, range 65- 90). At baseline, the participants had completed the Birkebeiner race for an average of 16.6 years and reported an average of 33.4 years of regular endurance exercise, with one out of five reporting at least 50 years of exercise. In all, 479 (90%) reported that they were still practicing leisure-time physical activity of moderate or vigorous intensity at least twice weekly. The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases was low. DISCUSSION: This prospective study of a cohort of recreational athletes exposed to prolonged and strenuous endurance exercise, could complement population-based studies by providing data on associations between life-long endurance sport participation, aging, functional decline and health outcomes during long-term follow-up. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10262516 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-102625162023-06-15 Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes Myrstad, Marius Johansen, Kristoffer Robin Sørensen, Eivind Ranhoff, Anette Hylen BMC Geriatr Study Protocol BACKGROUND: While regular physical activity is associated with reduced mortality and morbidity in general populations, health outcomes and functional capacity related to upholding strenuous endurance exercise beyond the age of 65 years are only sparsely studied. The aim of this study is to assess associations of prolonged strenuous endurance sport practice with ageing, functional decline, morbidity and longevity among older recreational endurance athletes, during long-term follow-up. METHODS: Prospective cohort study of older recreational endurance athletes in Norway. All skiers aged 65 years and older who participated in a long-distance endurance competition, the annual 54-km Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in 2009 or 2010, were invited. The participants answered an extensive baseline questionnaire about lifestyle habits, including leisure-time physical activity and endurance sport participation, diseases, medication use and physical and mental health, with follow-up questionnaires planned every fifth year until 2029. New participants may be invited with the aim to increase the study size. Endpoints such as all-cause and disease-specific mortality, incidence and cumulative prevalence of diseases, use of medication, physical and mental health and functional decline will be assessed subsequently. Out of 658 invited skiers (51 women), 551(84%) completed the baseline questionnaire and were included in the study. The mean age was 68.8 years (median 68, range 65- 90). At baseline, the participants had completed the Birkebeiner race for an average of 16.6 years and reported an average of 33.4 years of regular endurance exercise, with one out of five reporting at least 50 years of exercise. In all, 479 (90%) reported that they were still practicing leisure-time physical activity of moderate or vigorous intensity at least twice weekly. The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases was low. DISCUSSION: This prospective study of a cohort of recreational athletes exposed to prolonged and strenuous endurance exercise, could complement population-based studies by providing data on associations between life-long endurance sport participation, aging, functional decline and health outcomes during long-term follow-up. BioMed Central 2023-06-13 /pmc/articles/PMC10262516/ /pubmed/37308811 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04099-3 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Study Protocol Myrstad, Marius Johansen, Kristoffer Robin Sørensen, Eivind Ranhoff, Anette Hylen Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
title | Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
title_full | Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
title_fullStr | Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
title_full_unstemmed | Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
title_short | Rationale and design of the Birkebeiner Ageing Study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
title_sort | rationale and design of the birkebeiner ageing study – a prospective cohort study of older endurance athletes |
topic | Study Protocol |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10262516/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37308811 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04099-3 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT myrstadmarius rationaleanddesignofthebirkebeinerageingstudyaprospectivecohortstudyofolderenduranceathletes AT johansenkristofferrobin rationaleanddesignofthebirkebeinerageingstudyaprospectivecohortstudyofolderenduranceathletes AT sørenseneivind rationaleanddesignofthebirkebeinerageingstudyaprospectivecohortstudyofolderenduranceathletes AT ranhoffanettehylen rationaleanddesignofthebirkebeinerageingstudyaprospectivecohortstudyofolderenduranceathletes |