Are Older Adults Who Volunteer to Participate in an Exercise Study Fitter and Healthier Than Nonvolunteers? The Participation Bias of the Study population

Participation bias in exercise studies is poorly understood among older adults. This study was aimed at looking into whether older persons who volunteer to participate in an exercise study differ from nonvolunteers. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire on physical activity and general health was mailed out to 1000 persons, aged 60 or over, who were covered by the medical insurance of the French National Education System. Among them, 535 answered it and sent it back. Two hundred and thirty-three persons (age 69.7 +/- 7.6, 65.7% women) said they would volunteer to participate in an exercise study and 270 (age 71.7 +/- 8.8, 62.2% women) did not. Results: Volunteers were younger and more educated than nonvolunteers, but they did not differ in sex. They had less physical function decline and higher volumes of physical activity than nonvolunteers. Compared with volunteers, nonvolunteers had a worse self-reported health and suffered more frequently from chronic pain. Multiple logistic regressions showed that good self-reported health, absence of chronic pain, and lower levels of physical function decline were associated with volunteering to participate in an exercise study. Conclusions: Volunteers were fitter and healthier than nonvolunteers. Therefore, caution must be taken when generalizing the results of exercise intervention studies

Le processus incapacitant au cours du vieillissement : rôle de l’exercice/activité physique

Le vieillissement est un phénomène d’importance croissante dans les sociétés actuelles. Bien que le rôle exercé par la pratique d’exercice/activité physique sur le maintien d’une capacité physique fonctionnelle optimale durant le vieillissement soit bien établi, l’inactivité physique est encore un comportement largement présent chez les personnes âgées, ce qui facilite le développement du processus incapacitant. Le but de cette revue de synthèse est d’exposer la chaîne de déclins physiologiques et fonctionnels au cours du vieillissement. Cette étude vise aussi à élucider le rôle exercé par la pratique d’exercice/activité physique afin d’empêcher ou retarder le début de tels déclins, et de renverser ou diminuer leur impact négatif sur des individus qui vieillissent. Ce travail explore l’influence des principales composantes du processus incapacitant (fragilité, limitation physique fonctionnelle, dépendance), et de la pratique d’exercice/activité physique sur la capacité physique fonctionnelle. Concernant le rapport « exercice/activité physique – processus incapacitant », certaines incohérences apparaissent parmi les études, ce qui réduit la possibilité de comparaison entre elles, et limite les conclusions. La définition du concept de fragilité, ainsi que la façon de mesurer les variables exercice/activité physique et fragilité constituent une des principales incohérences parmi ces études. Malgré cela, il ressort de ces études que la pratique régulière d’exercice/activité physique réduit des déclins liés à l’âge, tant sur le plan physiologique que sur celui de la capacité physique fonctionnelle. La pratique régulière d’exercice/activité physique contribue ainsi au maintien de l’indépendance des personnes âgées, à travers une minimisation des effets négatifs du processus incapacitant.Aging is a phenomenon of increased importance in contemporaneous societies. Although it is well established that physical exercise/activity contributes to maintain functional fitness at optimal levels, physical inactivity is a largely prevalent behaviour among elderly people, thus facilitating the disablement process. The purpose of this review is to study physiological and functional declines during aging. This article also tries to clarify the role played by physical exercise/activity in avoiding or delaying those declines, and in reverting or diminishing their negative impacts on older adults’ health. The influences of both disablement process main components (frailty, disability, and dependence) and of physical exercise/activity on functional fitness are examined. Concerning the relationships between physical exercise/activity and disablement process, some inconsistencies arise among articles, making difficult to compare them and to draw conclusions. The definitions of frailty, as well as the ways to measure physical exercise/activity, constitute the main inconsistencies among studies. However, most of the researches show that a regular practice of physical exercise/activity decreases the age-related declines in both physiological status and functional fitness. Then, exercising regularly can contribute to maintain independence in older adults by reducing the negative effects of the disablement process

Elaboration de la notion de proportion inverse dans l'épreuve de l'équilibre de la balance

Summary : The acquisition of the concept of inverse proportion in the task of balance equilibrium. The aim of this work is the study of the acquisition of the concept of inverse proportion within a physical task : the equilibrium of the balance. We led a genetic study, examining two aspects of knowledge : the initial knowledge through anticipation questions, and the knowledge in active manipulating, through realisation questions. 144 subjects from 3 to 14 years old were examined, in a situation allowing the subject to act freely. The results were interpreted according to the task analysis (derived from a rules model proposed by Siegler). A five steps model was determined, from the mere knowledge of the action of the weight in the desequilibrium, to the equilibrium by compensation between weight and distance. Key-words : Developmental psychology, concept of inverse proportion.Résumé Le but de ce travail est d'étudier l'acquisition de la notion de proportion inverse dans une tâche physique : l'équilibre de la balance. On a confronté, dans cette recherche, l'anticipation verbale avec la rétroaction que produit le résultat de manipulations actives sur un matériel concret. Une étude génétique a été effectuée avec l'examen de 144 enfants de 3 à 14 ans. L'analyse de la tâche fournit un cadre pour l'interprétation des résultats. On propose un modèle, dérivé de celui de Siegler, comportant 5 étapes, depuis la connaissance de l'action du poids (pour provoquer le déséquilibre) jusqu'à la compensation poids-distance. Mots clefs : Psychologie génétique, notion de proportion inverse.Ferrandez-Reinisch Anne-Marie. Elaboration de la notion de proportion inverse dans l'épreuve de l'équilibre de la balance. In: L'année psychologique. 1983 vol. 83, n°2. pp. 505-512

Rôle de l'expérience proprioceptive dans la compréhension de l'équilibre de la balance.

The aim of this article was to observe how children (5, 6 and 7 years old subjects) perform in the problem of the balance equilibrium when it is presented through a proprioceptive situation. We observed adequation between the responses in the two situations : the extêroceptive one (visual situation) and the proprioceptive one. The U ish evolution in desequilibrium questions was discussed and interpreted as a type of cognitive reorganization.Nous avons examiné dans cette expérience des réactions d'enfants de 5, 6 et 7 ans face au problème de l'équilibre de la balance, quand celui-ci est présenté dans une situation proprioceptive. On montre une nette adéquation entre les réponses à la situation appréhendée de manière extêroceptive (vision) et proprioceptive. D'autre part l'évolution en U des sujets aux questions de déséquilibre est interprétée en terme de réorganisation cognitive.Ferrandez Anne-Marie, Cadopi Marielle. Rôle de l'expérience proprioceptive dans la compréhension de l'équilibre de la balance.. In: Enfance, tome 39, n°1, 1986. pp. 53-59

Ressources physiques et environnementales dans le maintien à domicile du sujet âgé

www.didac.ehu.es/antropoSur la base d'une enquête réalisée auprès de 28 personnes âgées (6 9 - 103 ans) vivant dans un contexte rural (Corrèze) et nécessitant régulièrement des soins infirmiers à domicile, nous avons tenté de déterminer les variables pouvant jouer un rôle important dans le maintien à domicile. Lors des entretiens individuels, chaq ue personne a été invitée à répondre à un questionnaire de santé et de capacités fonctionnelles, abordant les thèmes relatifs aux ressources physiques (capacités physiques fonctionnelles et état de santé), aux ressources personnelles (état psychologique) e t au contexte environnemental (facilités pratiques, isolement social). Les mesures anthropologiques suivantes ont pu être prises : stature, poids, tour de taille et force dynamométrique. Cette étude a permis de montrer l'importance de l'âge, de la force dy namométrique et des capacités physiques fonctionnelles sur la fréquence des soins infirmiers à domicile

Predictors of body satisfaction : difference between older men and women's perceptions of ther body functioning and appearance

International audienceThis article examines the predictors of body satisfaction among older men and women. Method: A self-reported questionnaire on body satisfaction (focused on body appearance and functioning), health, physical activity, and sociodemographic characteristics was completed by 384 older adults twice, at a year's interval. Women (n = 243) were on average 70.3 ± 7.9 years old, and men 70.9 ± 7.5 years old. Results: Body mass index was found to be the strongest predictor of satisfaction with body appearance for both genders, along with body functioning in the case of men. Regarding satisfaction with body functioning, functional limitations were women's most important predictor of satisfaction, whereas for men body appearance was more important. Discussion: Men seemed to link satisfaction with body appearance more closely to body functioning than did women. Gender differences suggest that interventions to improve body satisfaction must be gender specific, particularly those relating to body functioning

Activités instrumentales physiques de la vie quotidienne chez les personnes âgées : validation d'une échelle

Une recueil d'exposés présentés en Ateliers pédagogique

Static or dynamic predictors of physical activity (PA)? A tracking study based on 12- and 38-month follow-ups in older adults

Studies that investigated stability of PA in older populations are scarce. Moreover, no studies used dynamic indicators to predict PA trajectories. The purpose of the present study were to investigate PA stability overtime, and to examine if changes in self-reported physical function (dynamic indicator) are better predictors of trajectories of PA than baseline measures of physical function (static indicator). This is a prospective postal survey with two time-point follow-ups: 12 and 38 months. Participants were older adults aged 60 years, and members of the medical insurance scheme of the French national education system. They responded to a self-report questionnaire on PA and general health status at three different times: baseline, 12- and 38-month follow-ups (n = 243 for the 12-month follow-up; n = 164 for the 38-month follow-up). Overtime analyses of PA showed a moderate-to-good stability with regard to both duration and volume of PA; however, a decrease in stability for vigorous PA was found between 12- and 38-month follow-ups. Both baseline measure and changes in physical function predicted PA trajectories, but magnitudes of associations were stronger for the dynamic indicator. Moreover, change in physical function was the only predictor of both becoming active compared with Inactive (reduced probability) and becoming inactive compared to Active (increased probability). In conclusion, a dynamic indicator of physical function is a better predictor of PA variation than static indicators