Objectively measured physical activity is associated with frailty in community-dwelling older adults: A systematic review

Objective: The later-age shift towards physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour is associated with comorbidity and reduced function: markers of frailty. Whether these behaviours relate to frailty has yet to be thoroughly studied using objective measurements. This study aimed to summarise the associations of objectively measured habitual physical activity and sedentary behaviour with frailty in community-dwelling older adults. Study Design and Setting: Six databases were searched from inception to July 21st 2020. Articles analyzing objectively measured physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour with frailty in community-dwelling adults >= 60 years old were included. Synthesis of included articles was performed using effect direction heat maps and albatross plots. Results: The search identified 23 articles across 18 cohorts, including 7,696 total participants with a mean age of 69.3 +/- 8.1 years, and 56.9% female. All but one article were cross-sectional. Lower moderate-to-vigorous and total physical activity, steps, postural transitions, and energy expenditure were associated with frailty. The use of multifactorial or physical frailty definitions did not alter associations. Median effect sizes for the associations of all physical activity and sedentary behaviour measures with frailty were beta = -0.272 [-0.381, -0.107] and beta = 0.100 [0.001, 0.249], respectively. Conclusion: Objective measures of physical activity are associated with frailty, regardless of frailty definition. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/ )

Automated summary

The study found that objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behavior are associated with frailty in older adults living in the community, regardless of the definition of frailty. Different measures of physical activity and sedentary behavior are all related to frailty.