Age score for assessing motor function in Chinese community-dwelling older women

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to develop a physical fitness age score to assess motor function in community-dwelling elderly women and verify its validity. Principal component analysis was employed to build a physical fitness age score based on motor function variables. Validation test showed that the physical fitness age in the exercised older women was significantly lower than their chronological age, while no significant difference was observed between the physical fitness age and the chronological age in the normal elderly. The findings suggest that physical fitness age score is a valid approach to evaluate motor function in Chinese community-dwelling elderly women.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• elderly women
• physical fitness

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the participants who took part in the research. We are also grateful to the staffs in the Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University for their participation in collecting the data relevant physical fitness of the elderly.

Author contributions

X. Z., H. H. and Y. G. contributed to the study design; X. Z. was responsible for the data collection; H. H. and X. Z. contributed to the data analysis and the manuscript’s preparation; H. H. and Y. G. revised the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The research was sponsored by the Zhejiang Philosophical and Social Science Program (21NDJC004Z), the National Social Science Foundation in China (18BTY100), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Provincial Universities of Zhejiang (SJWY2020005) and K. C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University.