Comparison Between Physical Activity Levels in Men and Women Institutionalized Elderly With MTI Aactigraph

Introduction Exact evaluation of the quantity and intensity of physical activity in daily life is considered very important due to the close relationship between physical activity level, functional decline and sedentary habits. Even moderate-to-vigorous intense physical activity (PA) is beneficial when done regularly for a total of 30 minutes or longer on most or all days. We used in this study accelerometers to measured minute-by-minute the movement, to assess PA volume and intensity performed by women and men older adults in different groups. The objective of this study was to analyze the pattern of PA performed by the Women and Men elderly in their daily routine.

Methods The sample was divided into two different groups (79,04±7,5 years old; BMI: 26,0±4,0), 166 subjects constitute the women group (WG) and 131 belong to the men group (MG). The Physical activity levels were directly measured for seven consecutive days using a MTI Actigraph accelerometer model 7164. The assessment of the level of physical activity performed by each individual has been carried out using the values suggested by Freedson et al. (1998). We joint the moderate/vigorous PA intensities because we have a few values in vigorous intensity. The habitual physical activity performed by the groups has been monitored and registered during a complete week (activity performed in week days and weekend). The statistical procedures were the Descriptive Statistics (mean, standard deviation and frequency distribution) and a Student t-test was used to compare WG and MG on the physical activity (PA) performances.

Results The results provided are: (i) The mean PA lower at a week by hour (p<0,428), the mean PA lower at a weekend (p<0,893) and de mean PA lower at all week by hour (p<0,622) were slightly higher in the WG than MG. (ii) The mean PA moderate/vigorous at a week by hour (p<0,457), the mean PA moderate/vigorous at a weekend (p<0,053) and de mean PA moderate/vigorous at all week by hour (p<0,167) were slightly higher in the MG than WG. (iii) No statistics significance between groups was found in Lower PA and in moderate/vigorous PA.

Conclusion We conclude that the groups have an equal profile of performance in PA in Lower or moderate/ vigorous intensities. There was no statistic significance in every intensities.