title: Declines in physiological functional capacity with age: a longitudinal study in peak swimming performance.
abstract: We followed up swimming performance times of 321 women and 319 men who participated in the US Masters Swimming Championships over a 12-yr period. All swimmers placed in the top 10 in their age group over 3 yr (mean = 5 yr). A random coefficients model for repeated measures was used to derive a line of best fit from a group of regression lines for each subject. Both 50- and 1,500-m swimming performance declined modestly until approximately 70 yr of age, where a more rapid decline was observed in both men and women. Compared with 1,500-m swimming, the 50-m freestyle declined more modestly and slowly with age. The rate and magnitude of declines in swimming performance with age were greater in women than in men in 50-m freestyle; such sex-related differences were not observed in 1,500-m freestyle. Overall, the variability along a population regression line increased markedly with advancing age. The present longitudinal findings indicate that 1) swimming performance declines progressively until age 70, where the decrease becomes quadratic; 2) the rates of the decline in swimming performance with age are greater in a long-duration than in a short-duration event, suggesting a relatively smaller loss of anaerobic muscular power with age compared with cardiovascular endurance; 3) the age-related rates of decline are greater in women than in men only in a short-duration event; and 4) the variability of the age-related decline in performance increases markedly with advancing age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Colorado at Boulder, 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Donato
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tench
authors.forename: Deborah H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Glueck
authors.forename: Douglas R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Seals
authors.forename: Iratxe
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eskurza
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation