title: Cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity, and functional limitation in older adults.
abstract: One hundred forty-six abdominally obese adults age 60-80 yr were studied to investigate the interaction between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and obesity on functional limitation. Obesity was determined by fat mass (FM), CRF was determined by a maximal treadmill test, and functional limitation was based on 4 different tasks that are predictive of subsequent disability. Both FM (r = -.34, p ≤ .01) and CRF (r = .54, p ≤ .01) were independently associated with functional limitation in bivariate analysis.After further control for sex, age, and the interaction term (CRF × FM), FM was no longer independently associated with functional limitation (p = .10). Analyses were also based on sex-specific tertiles of FM and CRF. The referent group demonstrated significantly lower functional limitation than the low-CRF/low-FM and the low-CRF/high-FM groups (both p ≤ .05). These results highlight the value of recommending exercise for abdominally obese adults.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Danielle R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Bouchard
authors.forename: K Ashlee
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.forename: Lance
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D013223:Statistics as Topic