Assessment of Physical Activity in Older Adults

D uring the past 10 to 15 years the association of physical activity, a modifiable behavioral factor, and the risk for chronic disease and functional decline in older individuals has received increased research attention (Heckler, 1985). Over ten years ago, data from the Alameda County Study showed that, among the elderly, participation in leisure time physical activity was associated with a decreased risk of mortality over a 17-year follow-up, that was independent of age, socioeconomic status, health status, smoking, relative weight and alcohol consumption (Kaplan, Seeman, Cohen, Knudsen & Guralnik, 1987). More recently, physical activity has been associated with a decreased risk for cardiovascular mortality in elderly Spanish men and women (Ruigomez, Alonso & An to, 1995), both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in elderly Dutch men (Bijnen, Caspersen, et al., 1998), and with the incidence of coronary heart disease in middle-aged and elderlyJapanese American men living in Hawaii (Donahue, Abbott, Reed, & Yano, 1988). In addition, reports from the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly cohort have shown increased physical activity was significantly associated with a longer life expectancy at age 65 in both men and women, smokers and non-smokers (Ferrucci et aI., 1999), with fewer years of disability prior to death (Leveille, Guralnik, Ferrucci, & Langlois, 1999), and with a decreased risk of losing mobility (LaCroix, Guralnik, Berkman, Wallace, & Satterfield, 1993). Maintaining a