Effects of concurrent exercise on health-related quality of life in middle-aged women

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of a 16-week concurrent exercise program on health-related quality of life in middle-aged women.

Methods

A total of 150 middle-aged women from the FLAMENCO project (age range 45–60 years) were randomized into a counseling (n = 75) or an exercise (n = 75) group. The exercise group followed a 16-week (3 days/week, 60 min/session) concurrent exercise program (aerobic + resistance training). The counseling group attended conferences on a healthy lifestyle. Participants’ health-related quality of life was assessed with the EuroQol plus, a visual analog scale and the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), where greater values indicate a better health-related quality of life.

Results

The visual analog scale increased by 9.0% in the exercise group, whereas it only increased by 3.5% in the counseling group (p = 0.040). The SF-36 physical function, physical role, bodily pain, vitality and emotional role increased by 5.5%, 11.3%, 10.8%, 9.6% and 8.9%, respectively, in the exercise group, whereas these only increased by 0.6%, decreased by 0.7% and increased by 1.4%, 3.8% and 0.6% in the counseling group (all p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that a 16-week concurrent exercise program adapted for midlife women improved their health-related quality of life.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier

NCT02358109. Date of registration: 05/02/2015

摘要

目的：本研究旨在评估为期16周的同步锻炼计划对中年女性健康相关生活质量的影响。

方法：来自FLAMENCO项目的150名中年女性（年龄范围 45-60 岁）被随机分到咨询组（n = 75）或运动组（n = 75）。运动组遵循为期16周（3天/周, 60分钟/节）的同步运动计划（有氧+阻力训练）。咨询组参加了关于健康生活方式的会议。参与者的健康相关生活质量采用EuroQol plus、视觉模拟量表和36项短期健康调查（SF-36）进行评估, 其中数值越大表明健康相关生活质量越好。

结果：运动组的视觉模拟量表增加了9.0%, 而咨询组仅增加了3.5%（p = 0.040）。 SF-36身体机能、身体作用、身体疼痛、活力和情绪作用在运动组分别增加了5.5%、11.3%、10.8%、9.6%和8.9%, 而这些在咨询组只增加了0.6%、减少了0.7%、增加 1.4%、3.8% 和 0.6%（均p < 0.05）。

结论：我们的结果表明, 适合中年女性的为期16周的同步锻炼计划改善了她们与健康相关的生活质量。

Keywords:

• Health-related quality of life
• 36-item Short Form Health Survey
• EuroQol
• climacteric
• primary care

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr Ana Yara Postigo-Fuentes for her assistance with the English grammar.

Potential conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucía, Spain [PI-0667-2013]; University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016, Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES), granted by the University of Granada and the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades and European Regional Development Funds [ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR]. M.F.-A. was funded by Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport [FPU17/03715].