Comparison two-year effects of once-weekly and twice-weekly water exercise on health-related quality of life of community-dwelling frail elderly people at a day-service facility.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare two-year effects of once-weekly and twice-weekly water exercise programmes at a day-service facility on the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of frail elderly people.


METHODS
This single blind, prospective, longitudinal randomized pilot study separated 22 community-dwelling frail elderly people into once-weekly (once group: n = 10) and twice-weekly (twice group: n = 12) groups: the two-year exercise interventions were once- or twice-weekly 1-h sessions. Water exercise sessions comprised warming-up on land, activities of daily living (ADL) exercise, stretching, strength, and relaxation in water. The HRQL was evaluated using the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36); ADL dependence was assessed using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).


RESULTS
Both groups showed significant increases over pre-intervention (pre) scores at 6 months and 12 months on Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary. In the once group, both were lower at 24 months than at 6 months and 12 months. The FIM scores were significantly different from pre at 6 months and 12 months in both once and twice groups, and between pre and 24 month in the twice group.


CONCLUSIONS
Better than once-weekly exercise, twice-weekly water exercise controlled deterioration of HRQL, ADL, and knee extensor muscle strength (KEX) with ageing.
Sato
Daisuke
D
Doctoral Program in Health and Sport Science, University of Tsukuba, Japan. s0630342@ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp
Kaneda
Koichi
K
Wakabayashi
Hitoshi
H
Nomura
Takeo
T
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014867:Water
D014867:Water