I probably sound like a broken record (does anyone know what that reference even means?) – EXERCISE is THE MOST POWERFUL intervention available for your health. And here’s another article that supports that. A group of older patients (oh my, I might actually be in this group?!?) with average age of 69 ½ years, but mostly women, were entered into a private gym supervised exercise program and that yielded hospitalization rates at only ½ of those who didn’t exercise! They only saw a significant difference in women (there probably weren’t enough men to show the statistical difference), and the population was hardly committed to the long term, but even with that, the women crushed it. It’s not the best study (some clear potential confounders), but heck, I’m piling on when it comes to the need for exercise! Let’s get moving!
FROM AJPM / BY Donald S. Wright, MD, MHS, Bin Zhou, MS, Catherine X. Wright, MD, Robert S. Axtell, PhD, Abeel Mangi, MD, Basmah Safdar, MD, MSc
Association Between Exercise Program Participation and Hospitalization of Older Adults
Abstract
Introduction
Government and insurance sponsored exercise programs have demonstrated decreased hospitalizations, but it is unclear if this is the case for self-referred programs.
Methods
In this retrospective cohort study from 2013 to 2020, older adults who participated for at least three months at a community-based exercise center (participants) were compared with those who did not (nonparticipants). Each completed a baseline physical assessment and periodic reassessments thereafter. These data were paired with regional hospital data and a national mortality database. Statistical analysis and modeling were performed from 2020 to 2023. Survival to all-cause hospitalization was assessed with a priori subgroup comparison by gender and cox proportional hazard modeling by age, gender, and comorbidities.
Results
The cohort included 718 adults, mean age 69.5 years (SD 8.4), with 411 (57.2%) participants and 307 nonparticipants. Mean follow-up was 26.7 months. Participants had similar baseline measures of fitness (p>0.05) but were more likely to be retired and less likely to have diabetes or prior stroke than nonparticipants. Sustained participation was associated with a reduced rate of all-cause hospitalization (9.0% vs. 12.7%, p=0.02), even when adjusted (HR 0.54; 95% CI 0.34, 0.87, p=0.01). This decrease was noted only in women (p=0.03) but not in men (p=0.49), gender was nonsignificant after adjustment for comorbidities (p=0.15).
Conclusions
Exercise program participation was independently associated with decreased risk of all-cause hospitalization, with possible differential effects by gender. Further randomized trials of the benefits of personalized exercise programs are warranted to assess sex- and gender-specific effects.