Differential effects of power rehabilitation on physical performance and higher-level functional capacity among community-dwelling older adults with a slight degree of frailty.
BACKGROUND
Evidence is still insufficient regarding the effects of Power Rehabilitation (PR) on physical performance and higher-level functional capacity of community-dwelling frail elderly people.


METHODS
This nonrandomized controlled interventional trial consisted of 46 community-dwelling elderly individuals with light levels of long-term care needs. They were allocated to the intervention (I-group, n = 24) and control (C-group, n = 22) groups. Of them, 32 persons (17 in the I-group; 15 in the C-group) (median age, 77 years; sex, 28% male) completed the study. The I-group subjects underwent PR twice a week for 12 weeks. The outcomes were physical performance (muscle strength, balance, flexibility, and mobility) and higher-level functional capacity as evaluated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence (TMIG-IC) and the level of long-term care need as certified by the public long-term care insurance.


RESULTS
The I-group demonstrated a significant improvement in the measured value of the timed up-and-go test (median change, a decrease of 4.4 seconds versus a decrease of 0.2 seconds, p = 0.033) and the timed 10-meter walk (a decrease of 3.0 seconds versus an increase of 0.2 seconds, p = 0.007) in comparison with the C-group. No significant change was observed in the TMIG-IC scores or in the level of long-term care need in the I-group.


CONCLUSIONS
PR improved mobility of community-dwelling frail elderly people; however, such improvement did not translate into higher-level functional capacity. Our findings demonstrate the difficulty in transferring the positive effects associated with PR into an improvement in higher-level functional capacity.
Ota
Atsuhiko
A
Department of Public Health, Kochi Medical School, Japan. ohtaa@kochi-u.ac.jp
Yasuda
Nobufumi
N
Horikawa
Shunichi
S
Fujimura
Takashi
T
Ohara
Hiroshi
H
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D014041:Tokyo; D016896:Treatment Outcome