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Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: It is well known that physical exercise is important to promote physical and cognitive health in older population. However, inconsistent research findings were shown regarding exercise intensity, particularly on whether low-intensity exercise (1.5 metabolic equivalent tasks (METs) to 3.0...

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Autores principales: Tse, Andy C. Y., Wong, Thomson W. L., Lee, Paul H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4612316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26512340
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40798-015-0034-8
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author Tse, Andy C. Y.
Wong, Thomson W. L.
Lee, Paul H.
author_facet Tse, Andy C. Y.
Wong, Thomson W. L.
Lee, Paul H.
author_sort Tse, Andy C. Y.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: It is well known that physical exercise is important to promote physical and cognitive health in older population. However, inconsistent research findings were shown regarding exercise intensity, particularly on whether low-intensity exercise (1.5 metabolic equivalent tasks (METs) to 3.0 METs) can improve physical and cognitive health of older adults. This systematic review aimed to fill this research gap. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of low-intensity exercise interventions on physical and cognitive health of older adults. METHODS: Published research was identified in various databases including CINAHL, MEDLINE, PEDro, PubMed, Science Direct, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science. Research studies published from January 01, 1994 to February 01, 2015 were selected for examination. Studies were included if they were published in an academic peer-reviewed journal, published in English, conducted as randomized controlled trial (RCT) or quasi-experimental studies with appropriate comparison groups, targeted participants aged 65 or above, and prescribed with low-intensity exercise in at least one study arm. Two reviewers independently extracted the data (study, design, participants, intervention, and results) and assessed the quality of the selected studies. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Quality index ranged from 15 to 18 mean = 18.3 with a full score of 28, indicating a moderate quality. Most of the outcomes reported in these studied were lower limb muscle strength (n = 9), balancing (n = 7), flexibility (n = 4), and depressive symptoms (n = 3). RESULTS: Out of the 15 selected studies, 11 reported improvement in flexibility, balancing, lower limb muscle strength, or depressive symptoms by low-intensity exercises. CONCLUSIONS: The current literature suggests the effectiveness of low-intensity exercise on improved physical and cognitive health for older adults. It may be a desired intensity level in promoting health among older adults with better compliance, lower risk of injuries, and long-term sustainability.
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spelling pubmed-46123162015-10-26 Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review Tse, Andy C. Y. Wong, Thomson W. L. Lee, Paul H. Sports Med Open Systematic Review BACKGROUND: It is well known that physical exercise is important to promote physical and cognitive health in older population. However, inconsistent research findings were shown regarding exercise intensity, particularly on whether low-intensity exercise (1.5 metabolic equivalent tasks (METs) to 3.0 METs) can improve physical and cognitive health of older adults. This systematic review aimed to fill this research gap. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of low-intensity exercise interventions on physical and cognitive health of older adults. METHODS: Published research was identified in various databases including CINAHL, MEDLINE, PEDro, PubMed, Science Direct, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science. Research studies published from January 01, 1994 to February 01, 2015 were selected for examination. Studies were included if they were published in an academic peer-reviewed journal, published in English, conducted as randomized controlled trial (RCT) or quasi-experimental studies with appropriate comparison groups, targeted participants aged 65 or above, and prescribed with low-intensity exercise in at least one study arm. Two reviewers independently extracted the data (study, design, participants, intervention, and results) and assessed the quality of the selected studies. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Quality index ranged from 15 to 18 mean = 18.3 with a full score of 28, indicating a moderate quality. Most of the outcomes reported in these studied were lower limb muscle strength (n = 9), balancing (n = 7), flexibility (n = 4), and depressive symptoms (n = 3). RESULTS: Out of the 15 selected studies, 11 reported improvement in flexibility, balancing, lower limb muscle strength, or depressive symptoms by low-intensity exercises. CONCLUSIONS: The current literature suggests the effectiveness of low-intensity exercise on improved physical and cognitive health for older adults. It may be a desired intensity level in promoting health among older adults with better compliance, lower risk of injuries, and long-term sustainability. Springer International Publishing 2015-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC4612316/ /pubmed/26512340 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40798-015-0034-8 Text en © Tse et al. 2015 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Systematic Review
Tse, Andy C. Y.
Wong, Thomson W. L.
Lee, Paul H.
Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review
title Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review
title_full Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review
title_fullStr Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review
title_short Effect of Low-intensity Exercise on Physical and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: a Systematic Review
title_sort effect of low-intensity exercise on physical and cognitive health in older adults: a systematic review
topic Systematic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4612316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26512340
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40798-015-0034-8
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