Characteristics of activity fitness of daily living in elderly korean women / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate activity fitness of daily living of elderly women in Korea. The subjects were 253 elderly women ranging in age from 65 to 84 years. Twenty items related to the activity fitness of daily living were measured. The Pearson's correlation coefficients between the performance test items and age were significant (<I>P</I><0.05) and the score of all items remarkably decreased with advancing age. In order to extract activity fitness of daily living, the principal component analysis was applied to the 20×20 correlation matrix. The first principal component was interpreted as fundamental activity fitness (FAF) of daily living. The results of the comparison clearly indicated that the 75-79 and 80-84 age groups were inferior in FAF of daily living. Furthermore, in order to analyze the factorial structure of these elderly women, extracted factors were rotated with normal varimax criterion. The activity fitness (AF) of daily living were categorized to 7 factors : muscular strength and movement of the whole body, flexibility, balance, coordination of upper limbs, agility of upper and lower limbs, endurance, and reaction time. Results of the comparison of AF factors showed that a decline with advancing age was significant for muscular strength and movement of the whole body. The prediction equations of FAF were developed using multiple regression analyses. Results indicated that 8 selected items from 7 factors were significant predictors of the dependent variable FAF. Equally clarified was that 3 of our 8 items could be excluded, while still yielding comparable precision in predicting FAF. On the basis of all our analyses and considering the practicability of the measurement, we recommend the equation FAFS=1.504 X<SUB>1</SUB>-0.838 X<SUB>2</SUB>-0.489 X<SUB>3</SUB>-0.363 X<SUB>4</SUB>-0.686 X<SUB>5</SUB>+68.71, with an R=0.850; where FAFS=fundamental activity fitness score, X<SUB>1</SUB>=arm curl, X<SUB>2</SUB> walking around two chairs in a figure 8, X<SUB>3</SUB>=one foot tapping in a sitting position, X<SUB>4</SUB>=sit and reach, X<SUB>5</SUB> carrying beans using chopsticks, which can predict FAF with high precision in elderly Korean women.