Physical Activity Improves Walking Capacity In Chilean Elderly

Academic Journal
Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 19 Apr 2011 - 14:00 PDT


Policies to promote healthy ageing often emphasize a healthy diet and maintaining physical activity. But currently there is little good evidence to support the benefits of improved nutrition and increased physical activity levels for older adults from low-income or transition economies. Alan Dangour from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, and colleagues report this week in PLoS Medicine the outcomes of the Cost-effectiveness Evaluation of a Nutritional supplement and Exercise program for older people - CENEX - which evaluated whether Chile's national nutritional supplementation and physical exercise program prevented pneumonia and physical functional decline in older people in Santiago, and whether these interventions were cost-effective.

Using a cluster randomized trial design they found that during the 2-year trial the incidence rate of pneumonia did not differ between intervention and control groups but, at the end of the study period, there was a significant difference in walking capacity between the intervention and control clusters. Therefore, the provision of locally-available physical activity classes to older people could be of clinical benefit, especially in urban settings.

Funding: The funding for the CENEX study was provided by The Wellcome Trust (Grant number 075219; www.wellcome.ac.uk) and by in-kind contributions from the Ministry of Health Chile. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: Ricardo Uauy has declared: (1) I have a joint academic position between LSHTM and INTA U of Chile, the second position includes as part of my duties providing advice to the Chilean Ministry of Health on nutrition-related issues. (2) As President of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences IUNS 2005-09 I represented the IUNS providing advice on nutrition and food-related issues to the WHO, the FAO, and other UN agencies on topics related to the paper submitted to PLoS. (3) As President of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences IUNS 2005-09 I represented the IUNS in public/private partnerships; this included providing advice to industry on nutrition-related matters. No private gain was derived from these activities. IUNS policy is that these funds would be used to foster capacity in developing countries and would be disbursed by the incoming IUNS officers after I had completed my term as President. (4) I give presentations to scientific meetings that are supported by private foundations, or private sector industry and have had my travel paid by sponsors of these meetings, in topics related to nutrition and food. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation:
"Effect of a Nutrition Supplement and Physical Activity Program on Pneumonia and Walking Capacity in Chilean Older People: A Factorial Cluster Randomized Trial."
Dangour AD, Albala C, Allen E, Grundy E, Walker DG, et al. (2011)
PLoS Med 8(4): e1001023. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001023

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