Physical activity that comes in brief episodes throughout the day may be an early indicator of an elder’s mortality risk. Clinicians may want to take note, say researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Physical activity data was collected from wearable monitors in nearly 550 older adults enrolled in a large city aging study. The results proved contrary to established wisdom. While reduced physical activity during the day is widely seen as a sign of impending mortality in older adults, this is not what the researchers found. Instead, more spurts of brief activity – five minutes or less – during the day were linked to greater mortality risk.
Adults who begin to show this behavior may be compensating for changes due to impaired physical function, theorized study lead Amal Wanigatunga, Ph.D. Clinicians could potentially monitor activity fragmentation in adults using wearable devices and take action when changes are seen, he said.
“A doctor seeing a patient transitioning into a more fragmented activity pattern and a more sedentary state might initiate a prescription for a tailored physical activity regimen,” Wanigatunga concluded.
The study was published on October 2 in JAMA Network Open.
