Physical activity is vital to enhance longevity and help people live longer, which is why programs to promote physical activity should be a priority, authors of a study say. 

Many older adults live with disabilities and chronic illnesses, as well as mobility limitations. At the same time, not moving while older is linked with more health risks and death, authors of a May 2 study wrote in a Journal of the American Geriatrics Society report.

A team from the Department of Geriatrics of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy, conducted the study of 195 older adults. The intervention was deployed in L’Aquila, Italy. The team looked at data starting in 2003 and 2004 including details on physical performance (including assessments on chair-stand, balance and gait). Functional impairment was categorized into severe (0–2), moderate (3–7), mild (8 or 9) or absent (10–12).

The average age when the study started was 82.3 years old; about 67% of the participants were women. The researchers classified long-term survival as reaching the age of 95. Of the participants, 21.1% reached that mark.

Long-term survivors were mostly women, and had lower levels of disability, higher body mass index (BMI), higher short physical performance battery (SPPB) scores and higher gait speed. 

None of the long-term survivors had heart failure; 8.7% of those who died earlier did have heart disease. The long-term survivors took fewer medications and had lower plasma interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels, a marker of immune function. 

A greater percentage of patients who died earlier had severe functional impairments, while the long-term survivors had a higher proportion of robust, healthier individuals.

“The present analysis indicates that physical performance is independently associated with long-term survival in very old adults living in the community,” the authors wrote.

Neither the number of diseases nor any specific disease predicted long-term survival, the authors added.

Physical performance is a reliable metric for evaluating mortality risk, and interventions to promote it may help people live longer, the authors noted.

The news comes as another recent report found that walking at least once a week for transportation purposes helped older adults live longer.