Associations of total and aerobic steps with the prevalence and incidence of frailty in older adults with hypertension

Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2021 Jul-Aug:67:18-25. doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2021.02.011. Epub 2021 Feb 26.

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the associations of total steps/day and faster aerobic steps/day (≥60 steps/min) with the development of frailty in older adults with hypertension (HTN) using a two-phased cross-sectional and prospective approach.

Methods: The sample consisted of 427 older adults with HTN from the Physical Activity and Aging Study (PAAS), aged ≥65 years, with valid step data from an accelerometer-based pedometer. Participants were classified into tertiles of total steps/day (low, mid, high) and three categories of aerobic steps/day (none, low, high). Frailty was defined using a modified Fried score with 5 subdomains including shrinking, weakness, slowness, low physical activity (PA), and exhaustion.

Results: We observed a negative dose-response relationship across categories of total steps/day and aerobic steps/day for the prevalence of frailty and the subdomains of slowness, low PA, and exhaustion (all p for trends <0.05). Greater aerobic steps/day, but not total steps/day, was associated with lower incidence of developing frailty in the 241 participants with a follow-up examination who had no frailty at baseline.

Conclusion: Higher aerobic steps/day were more strongly associated with the lower prevalence and incidence of frailty compared to total steps/day, suggesting that faster aerobic walking may potentially provide greater benefits regarding frailty in older adults with HTN.

Keywords: Aerobic steps; Frailty; Hypertension; Older adults; Pedometer; Steps; Walking.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actigraphy / instrumentation
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Blood Pressure*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Exercise Tolerance*
  • Female
  • Fitness Trackers
  • Frail Elderly*
  • Frailty / diagnosis
  • Frailty / epidemiology*
  • Frailty / physiopathology
  • Geriatric Assessment
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / diagnosis
  • Hypertension / epidemiology*
  • Hypertension / physiopathology
  • Incidence
  • Iowa / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Prospective Studies