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Research news
As an ICAA member you can access a library of over 2,000 peer-reviewed and published studies. You can also stay up to date with current research by reading ICAA Research Review, the online newsletter of breaking news in health, wellness and demographics. Published 45 times each year, Research Review is emailed to ICAA members. To learn more about becoming an ICAA member please visit, www.icaa.cc or telephone ICAA toll-free at 866-335-9777.
Swimming may half men’s mortality rates
A recent study from the University of South Carolina shows that swimming cuts men’s risk of dying by about 50% compared to runners, walkers and sedentary peers. In addition, the new research—which was partially funded by the National Swimming Pool Foundation—reveals that regular swimmers had a higher cardiorespiratory fitness than walkers and sedentary people.
Led by Steven Blair, PED, a professor at the university’s Arnold School of Public Health, the study evaluated physical exams and behavioral surveys from about 40,000 people enrolled in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) over the last 32 years. It takes into account age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, hypertension, other medical factors and family history.
“This is the first report that examined mortality rates among swimmers in comparison with other types of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle,” Blair comments. “These lower rates in swimmers compared with walkers and sedentary men might well be expected, but it is surprising that we also observed lower mortality in swimmers than in runners.” Although the study population was limited to white, well-educated, middle- to upper-class men, “there is no compelling reason to assume that the benefits of swimming would be different for women or for men in other socioeconomic groups,” he says. “In an earlier study in this same population we found that both women and men had similar benefits from swimming in terms of fitness and other health indicators.”
Concludes Blair, “Swimming provides a healthful alternative to traditional modes of exercise for improving cardiorespiratory fitness and health for the general population, as well as for patients suffering from chronic diseases.” He adds, “Swimming may be a good alternative exercise for individuals who cannot participate in running or other forms of physical activity.”
Source: National Swimming Pool Foundation, February 2, 2009; International Journal of Aquatic Education and Research, 2(3), 2008
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Meaning trumps money for those seeking the ‘good life’
For middle-aged and older Americans, living the “good life” is equated with having purpose in one’s life and spending time with family and friends, according to a new study from the MetLife Mature Market Institute in Westport, Connecticut. Participants further describe the good life in terms of having health, a financial safety net, and the time to do what is important to them. MetLife produced the study, entitled Discovering What Matters: Balancing Money, Medicine and Meaning, in conjunction with author, life coach and executive educator Richard Leider.
Based on interviews with more than 1,000 Americans ages 45–74, the new report explores what brings contentment to those in the second half of life. Respondents, regardless of financial status, maintain that their goals are primarily meaning based. Further, older respondents focus less on wealth accumulation and more on health and well-being compared to younger respondents.
“We found through this research that people who make valuable use of their lives through meaningful work, time to socialize, personal interests and travel, and care for their physical and spiritual health, are more likely to have contentment and purpose in their lives,” says Sandra Timmermann, EdD, the institute’s director. “Having enough money to be comfortable, a different standard for everyone, remains important as well, but it’s not the only, or even most important, focus.”
Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute, January 13, 2009
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Physical activity after menopause lowers breast cancer risk
Several studies have suggested that regular physical exercise reduces breast cancer risk, but how much exercise, and when to do it, were unclear. Moreover, little was known about which type of breast cancer is influenced by physical activity. Research conducted at the German Cancer Research Center and University Hospitals of Hamburg-Eppendorf may provide answers.
A total of 3,464 breast cancer patients and 6,657 healthy women ages 50–74 years participated in the MARIE study. These women were questioned about their physical activity during two periods in their lives: from ages 30–49 years, and after age 50. An analysis of the data revealed that regular physical activity—more common in controls than in patients—lowered the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause by about one third. Specifically, physically active women were less likely to get hormone receptor positive tumors, a malignant form of breast cancer that accounted for more than half of cancers among the patients in the study.
The physical activity effect proved to be independent of weight gain, total energy intake or body mass index, the researchers report. As a result, they suggest that physical exercise reduces the risk of cancer through hormonal mechanisms instead of merely by a reduction of body fat or other changes in physical constitution, as has often been assumed.
Source: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, January 15, 2009; Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, 17(12), 3402–3410, 2008
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Cognitive rehabilitation helps people with acquired brain injury, stroke
Cognitive rehabilitation after a serious brain injury or stroke can help the mind in much the same way that physical therapy helps the body, according to a new meta-analysis. Because the data suggest that treatment may work best when tailored to age, injury, symptoms, and time since injury, the findings may help establish evidence-based treatment guidelines, in the authors’ view.
Researchers at the universities of South Alabama and North Carolina at Charlotte analyzed and updated the data found in systematic reviews of several hundred studies of cognitive rehabilitation. They took those studies whose samples and methods were most amenable to rigorous statistical techniques and documented the extent to which various treatments improve the language, attention, memory and other cognitive problems that appear after acquired brain injury. The researchers then offered initial treatment guidelines that include the following:
- Generally, it is better to start treating individuals as early as possible, rather than waiting for a more complete neurological recovery.
- Older patients (ages 55 and up) may benefit from cognitive rehabilitation, particularly if the brain injury is due to stroke.
- Clinicians should focus their efforts on direct cognitive skills training in specific cognitive domains (such as attention); holistic, nontargeted interventions appear to be less effective.
- Language training helped older people after stroke with aphasia.
- Memory treatment did not produce clear results, nor did comprehensive treatments that attempted to treat cognitive problems holistically.
- Visuospatial training helped stroke patients with visuospatial neglect, and also tended to improve performance in other cognitive domains. [Ed. People with visuospatial neglect fail to respond to stimuli in the field of vision opposite their brain injury.]
Source: American Psychological Association, January 13, 2009; Neuropsychology, 23(1), 20–39, 2009
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Exercise improves leg pain caused by arterial disease
Individuals with leg pain caused by peripheral arterial disease may be able to forego treatment of the affected artery by participating in hospital-supervised exercise, suggests recent research from the Netherlands.
For the study, 151 patients with this leg pain (known as intermittent claudication) were randomly assigned to undergo hospital-supervised exercise or endovascular revascularization, a minimally invasive technique that widens and restores blood flow to the affected artery. Supervised exercise consisted of 30-minute, semiweekly sessions of treadmill walking. Follow-up was performed after 6 and 12 months. Patients who had undergone revascularization showed more immediate improvement than those who had undertaken exercise, the research team found. However, no significant differences were observed between the two groups after 6 months or 12 months, with functional capacity and quality of life scores increasing for all.
“Revascularization is increasingly being performed as a first line of treatment,” says lead author Sandra Spronk, PhD, a researcher in the Department of Epidemiology and Radiology at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center in Rotterdam. “This study emphasizes that all patients with intermittent claudication should initially be treated with exercise training, and that invasive procedures should be considered only if symptoms fail to improve.”
Source: Radiological Society of North America, February 2, 2009; Radiology, 250(2), 586–595, 2009
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Houseplants increase quality of life in assisted living
An activity as simple as caring for a houseplant can have positive effects on the happiness of older adults who live in assisted-living communities, advise University of Nevada researchers. Their study examined the impact of indoor gardening on the quality of life of residents in these facilities by measuring three attributes: mastery, self-rated health, and self-rated happiness. Mastery and self-rated health are predictors of successful aging.
The four-week study involved participation by 18 residents in a weekly, two-hour interactive horticulture class taught by a social horticulturist and a sociologist. These older adults were given interactive lessons on the care of houseplants, choices of what plants to bring home and care for, and different options in potting containers. The classes also offered residents an opportunity for social interaction with peers and instructors.
Several key categories emerged over the study’s course that illustrated areas of improvement in quality of life. First, caring for their houseplants provided companionship for participants, some of whom reported singing and talking to their plants. Second, caring for the plants encouraged active and energetic participation. Researchers observed that “the overall energy was positive and electric as everyone involved could not wait to see how their plants would fare.” Participants “got dirty hands, dirt on their clothes, and felt competent.” Other positive impacts noted among residents were a general feeling of success and accomplishment, as well as excitement in planning for the future. Residents also looked forward to being involved in developing an outdoor community garden.
The results suggest that a horticulture intervention, such as personal plant responsibility, may be beneficial for assisted-living residents over a period of time. Similar short-term horticultural activities could be used to help integrate new residents, making the community feel like their new home, the researchers add.
Source: American Society for Horticultural Science, February 26, 2009; HortTechnology, 18(4), 611–618, 2008
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Mentally engaging activities may prevent memory loss
Participating in certain mental activities—such as reading magazines or crafting—in middle age or later in life may delay or prevent memory loss, according to a new study.
The research involved 197 people ages 70–89 years with mild cognitive impairment, or diagnosed memory loss, and 1,124 people that age with no memory problems. Both groups answered questions about their daily activities within the past year and in middle age, when they were between 50 and 65 years of age.
During later years, people who read books, played games, participated in computer activities and did craft activities (such as pottery or quilting) had a 30–50% decrease in their risk of developing memory loss compared to those who did not do those activities. Individuals who watched television for less than 7 hours a day in later years were 50% less likely to develop memory loss than those who watched more hours. Further, adults who participated in social activities and read magazines during middle age were about 40% less likely to develop memory loss than those who did not.
“This study is exciting because it demonstrates that aging does not need to be a passive process,” says study author Yonas Geda, MD, MSc, a neuropsychiatrist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “By simply engaging in cognitive exercise, you can protect against future memory loss.” Geda continues, “Of course, the challenge with this type of research is that we are relying on past memories of the participants; therefore, we need to confirm these findings with additional research.”
Source: American Academy of Neurology, February 17, 2009
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Older women find physical and mental health benefits through volunteer program
African-American women ages 60 and older who volunteer in elementary schools are not only more physically active than their nonvolunteering counterparts, reports new research, but they also seem to sustain this physical activity over time. In fact, those who volunteered burned twice as many calories as those who did not, according to the findings.
Led by Erwin Tan, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, the study gathered data from participants in the Experience Corps (EC) program, a community-based initiative that places older adults as volunteers in public elementary schools. This information was then compared to surveys of nonvolunteers enrolled in the Baltimore Women’s Health and Aging Studies.
The focus on African-American women was due to their prevalence in the 2 community groups from which study participants were recruited, Tan explains. Still, he believes the results would likely be the same for all older people.
Tan’s research builds on the results of a 2006 study of the EC program, which showed that 15 hours of volunteer work per week at an elementary school nearly doubled the activity level of sedentary older adults. The new study demonstrates that this increased activity can remain high for at least three years.
In another recent Johns Hopkins investigation, researchers reported similar findings about the EC program’s potential cognitive benefits for participants. Michelle Carlson, PhD, and colleagues found that EC volunteers showed greater improvements in memory and executive function than those who did not participate in the program. In fact, the older adults with the lowest baseline performance in these areas—those most at risk for health disparities—demonstrated the most significant gains.
Both studies show that everyday activity interventions can appeal to older adults’ desires to remain socially engaged and productive in their retirement years. Moreover, these activities provide measurable physical and cognitive health benefits for participants.
Source: Gerontological Society of America, February 26, 2009; Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64B(2),304–311, 2009; The Gerontologist, 48(6), 793–801, 2008
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Weight influenced by fast-food availability
Fast-food density and neighborhood walkability affect weight, according to a recently published study. The research is part of the Portland Oregon Neighborhood Environment and Health Study, where investigators follow a sample of about 1,200 local residents ages 50–75 over three years using body measurements and survey measures. These items include such things as participants’ body weight, height, eating habits, food intake, physical activity, and perceptions of their immediate neighborhood environment. Objective measures of the built environment—for example, density of fast-food outlets—were also taken.
The investigators found that a high density of fast-food outlets was associated with an increase of 3 lbs. in weight among neighborhood residents who frequently ate at those restaurants. In contrast, high-walkability neighborhoods were associated with a decrease of 2.7 lbs. among residents who increased their levels of vigorous physical activity during a one-year period. An abundance of fast-food outlets can have an unhealthy impact on body weight, the authors conclude, whereas health-promoting environments (in conjunction with physically active residents) can have a positive impact on weight over time.
Source: Oregon Research Institute, March 3, 2009; American Journal of Epidemiology, 169(4), 401–408, 2009.
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