“I am active”: effects of a program to promote active aging

Figures & data

Table 1 Contents of the “I am Active” program

Session	Cognitive functioning	Session	Nutrition
1	I am Active introduction	2	About nutrition
3	Memory	4	Eating well
5	Changes in memory	6	Fruits and vegetables
7	Truth or fiction about my memory	8	Meat, fish and seafood
9	Exercises to improve my mind	10	Grains, breads and cereals
11	Types of memory	12	Milk, fats, oils and sweets
13	What is normal and what is not about my memory?	14	My own nutritional plan
15	My own plan to improve my memory	16	Compromise with my health

Table 2 Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants

Variable	Group		P-value
	Experimental n=31 (%)	Control n=33 (%)
Age (years), mean ± SD	70.45±6.37	70.82±7.20	0.830ª
Sex, n (%)
Women	29 (93.5)	28 (84.8)	0.428b
Men	2 (6.5)	5 (15.2)
Marital status, n (%)
Married	12 (38.7)	11 (33.3)	0.654c
Not married	19 (61.3)	22 (66.7)
Education (years), mean ± SD	5.55±3.12	3.97±3.28	0.054ª
Diseases, n (%)
Diabetes	7 (22.6)	9 (27.3)	0.665c
Hypertension	18 (58.1)	22 (66.7)	0.477c
Heart disease	6 (19.4)	4 (12.1)	0.504b

Notes:

a Student’s t-test;

b Fisher’s Exact test;

c Pearson’s chi-squared test.

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 3 Outcome measures of active aging dimensions, ie, physical activity, cognitive functioning, and nutrition (experimental n=31, control n=33)

Variable	Group	Baseline	Post-test	d	Follow-up	d
Risk of falls	Experimental	26.29 (5.04)	28.06 (5.31)*	0.34	27.46 (4.55)	0.24
	Control	26.77 (5.63)	26.87 (5.87)	0.02	27.83 (4.33)	0.21
Balance	Experimental	20.42 (3.32)	21.84 (3.68)*	0.41	20.39 (3.24)	0.01
	Control	20.30 (3.32)	20.33 (2.63)	0.01	20.67 (2.70)	0.12
Gait	Experimental	5.87 (2.30)	6.23 (2.14)	0.16	6.90 (1.95)	0.48
	Control	6.47 (2.82)	7.23 (1.83)	0.33	7.17 (2.05)	0.29
Flexibility	Experimental	146.26 (22.69)	158.03 (13.49)*	0.65	147.71 (21.57)	0.07
	Control	141.83 (23.97)	141.67 (20.73)	0.01	134.83 (38.6)	0.22
Grip strength (right)	Experimental	21.16 (5.27)	20.76 (4.99)	0.08	20.12 (5.16)	0.20
	Control	20.66 (7.44)	20.46 (6.96)	0.03	20.03 (5.79)	0.10
Grip strength (left)	Experimental	18.75 (4.87)	19.38 (4.21)	0.14	18.77 (4.75)	0.00
	Control	19.26 (7.17)	18.96 (6.72)	0.04	19.50 (6.74)	0.03
Self-efficacy for physical activity	Experimental	4.48 (1.61)	5.58 (1.23)***	0.77	5.53 (0.84)***	0.86
	Control	5.50 (0.90)	4.90 (1.32)*	0.54	5.30 (1.68)	0.16
Working memory	Experimental	1.90 (0.74)	2.13 (0.99)	0.27	2.06 (0.77)	0.21
	Control	1.83 (0.79)	1.60 (0.77)	0.29	1.70 (0.75)	0.17
Processing speed	Experimental	26.06 (9.99)	31.16 (10.34)***	0.50	30.52 (10.21)***	0.44
	Control	19.87 (9.22)	17.83 (9.18)	0.22	19.41 (8.74)	0.05
Self-efficacy for improving memory	Experimental	4.65 (1.64)	5.71 (0.73)***	0.89	4.84 (1.03)	0.14
	Control	5.20 (1.47)	4.93 (1.43)	0.19	4.77 (1.07)	0.34
Self-efficacy for nutrition	Experimental	4.61 (1.76)	5.52 (1.18)**	0.62	5.10 (1.22)*	0.33
	Control	5.13 (1.38)	4.77 (1.65)	0.24	4.80 (1.40)	0.24

Notes:

* P<0.05,

** P<0.01,

*** P<0.001; d is the effect size compared with baseline measure. The data in the Baseline, Post-test and Follow-up columns are shown as mean (standard deviation).

Table 4 Nutritional variables of active aging (experimental n=31, control n=33)

Variable	Pre-test, %		Post-test, %		Follow-up, %
	Experimental	Control	Experimental	Control	Experimental	Control
Nutritional status
Normal nutritional status*	54.8	57.6	71.0*	42.4	71.0*	56.7
Risk of malnutrition	45.2	42.4	29.0*	57.6	29.0*	43.3
Body mass index*
Underweight	0.0	3.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Normal	16.1	0.0	16.1	0.0	19.4	0.0
Overweight	29.0	56.7	29.0	56.7	29.0	66.7
Obesity class I	32.3	33.3	32.3	36.7	25.8	29.6
Obesity class II	12.9	6.7	12.9	6.7	16.1	3.7
Obesity class III	9.7	0.0	9.7	0.0	9.7	0.0

Note:

* P<0.05 comparison between experimental and control group.

Table 5 Quality of life, outcomes in general and specific domains (experimental n=31, control n=33)

Variable	Group	Baseline	Post-test	d	Follow-up	d
Quality of life overall	Experimental	25.02 (3.28)	26.80 (2.37)**	0.63	26.67 (1.99)**	0.63
	Control	25.30 (3.33)	24.75 (3.17)	0.17	25.19 (3.00)	0.03
Health and functionality	Experimental	23.79 (4.82)	25.99 (3.21)**	0.55	25.27 (2.95)	0.38
	Control	23.84 (3.80)	23.70 (3.83)	0.04	23.71 (4.54)	0.03
Psychological/spiritual	Experimental	27.15 (3.15)	28.36 (2.29)	0.44	28.12 (2.88)	0.32
	Control	27.51 (3.43)	26.42 (3.57)	0.31	26.31 (2.72)	0.39
Socioeconomic	Experimental	24.87 (3.25)	26.79 (3.27)*	0.59	25.77 (3.50)	0.27
	Control	25.44 (3.96)	24.77 (3.98)	0.17	25.99 (3.45)	0.15
Family	Experimental	25.54 (4.27)	26.84 (2.91)	0.36	26.10 (4.45)	0.13
	Control	25.74 (5.04)	24.92 (4.21)	0.18	25.35 (3.01)	0.10

Notes:

* P<0.05,

** P<0.01; d is the effect size compared with baseline measure. The data in the Baseline, Post-test and Follow-up columns are shown as mean (standard deviation).