Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
Volume
6
Publisher
Frontiers
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
71191
Funders
National Health and Medical Research Council
Grant Number
NHMRC Number : GNT1097105
Abstract
Introduction:
Non-exercise estimates of cardiorespiratory fitness hold great utility for epidemiological research and clinical practice. Older adults may yield the greatest benefit from fitness estimates due to limited capacity to undergo strenuous maximal exercise testing, however, few of the previously developed non-exercise equations are suitable for use in older adults. Thus, the current study developed a non-exercise equation for estimating cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults derived from the widely used International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ).
Methods:
This study was a secondary analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial. Participants were community-dwelling, cognitively unimpaired older adults aged 60–80 years (n = 92). They completed the IPAQ and underwent maximal exercise testing on a cycle ergometer. Stepwise linear regression was used to determine the equation in a randomly selected, sex-balanced, derivation subset of participants (n = 60), and subsequently validated using a second subset of participants (n = 32). Results: The final equation included age, sex, body mass index and leisure time activity from the IPAQ and explained 61% and 55% of the variance in the derivation and validation groups, respectively (standard error of estimates = 3.9, 4.0). Seventy-seven and 81% of the sample fell within ±1SD (5.96 and 6.28 ml·kg−1·min−1) of measured VO2peak for the derivation and validation subgroups. The current equation showed better performance compared to equations from Wier et al. (2006), Jackson et al. (1990), and Schembre & Riebe (2011), although it is acknowledged previous equations were developed for different populations.
Conclusions:
Using non-exercise, easily accessible measures can yield acceptable estimates of cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults, which should be further validated in other samples and examined in relation to public health outcomes.
Additional Information
DOI
10.3389/fspor.2024.1368262
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Sewell, K. R., Peiffer, J. J., Markovic, S. J., & Brown, B. M. (2024). Estimating cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults using the international physical activity questionnaire. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 6, Article 1368262. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2024.1368262