title: Men benefit more from midlife leisure-time physical activity than women regarding the development of late-life disability--results of the KORA-Age study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Encouraging physical activity is an important public health measure to reduce disability prevalence in the aged. The aims of this study were to determine the association between midlife physical activity and late-life disability and to investigate gender-specific differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  This data originates from the KORA-Age cohort, a follow-up in 2008 of the MONICA (Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases)/KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) S1-S4 surveys (1984-2001) situated in Augsburg, a city in Southern Germany. We applied a multivariable hurdle model to investigate the association of physical activity and disability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analysed 3333 persons with a mean follow-up of 18±5.5 years. Using hurdle models, moderate activity and high activity had a protective effect on the occurrence of disability (OR (odds ratio)=0.80 and 0.73), but not on severity (i.e. number of limitations). We observed a strong gender-specific difference in this association, with men benefitting more from exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevated physical activity reduces the risk of becoming disabled and postpones the onset of disability by several years, but we could not show an effect on the severity of disability. In addition, men seem to benefit more from leisure-time physical activity than women.
authors: Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: ralf.strobl@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Strobl
authors: Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Müller
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany.
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Thorand
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany.
authors: Birgit
authors: B
authors: Linkohr
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors: Christine S
authors: CS
authors: Autenrieth
authors: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany.
authors: Annette
authors: A
authors: Peters
authors: Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Grill
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Aged; Aged 80 and over; Disability evaluation; Physical activity