Abstract des Autors

Regular physical activity may preserve functional capacities in older age. Therefore elderly people are stimulated to participate in exercise programs. We investigated feasibility and effect of a six months training program among 88 elderly persons living on their own. Subjects were assigned at random to a control (20 men, 25 women) and an intervention group (20 men, 23 women). During the intervention period 10 of the elders dropped out of the study: 9 subjects from the intervention group and 1 control subject. Reasons for dropping out of the intervention group were mainly illness or injury. After the intervention period the increase in average maximum work load in men was 22 Watt (13%) and in women 11 Watt (10%), which was significantly different from the control group (p<0.05). Perceived walking pace and flexibility in exercising of men and perceived fitness, strength and flexibility in exercising of women were significantly improved compared to the control group. Most mentioned reasons for not completing individual training sessions were holidays, injuries and illness. These data suggest that exercise programs are indeed feasible for independently living elderly people and do have positive effects on physical fitness and skills. Most of the elders, however, did not continue the training after the intervention period. Verf.-Referat