Fit seniors live longer, even with modest effort

America’s seniors who get a regular dose of physical activity – even modest activity – live longer than unfit adults, regardless of whether they are overweight or obese, according to researchers.

Over the course of the 12-year Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, researchers found that adults over age 60 who died were older, had lower fitness levels, were fatter and had more cardiovascular risk factors than survivors.

The study’s findings have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and claims to be the first to examine the link among fitness, body fat and death in older Americans.

“Fitness level is a strong predictor for risk of dying in older adults,” said Dr Steven N Blair, a professor at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors.

Fit men and women who were overweight or obese had a lower risk for death than did those who were of normal weight but had low fitness levels, he said.

The least fit 20% of the 2,603 people in the study had a death rate four times higher than the 20% who were the fittest. In fact, the least fit 20% were twice as likely to die as the next 20% in the fitness distribution.

Medical expenditures associated with inactivity and obesity are greatest among older adults, he added. “This represents a significant economic burden to society by an aging population that is inactive and obese,” Blair said.

The researchers assessed fitness by a treadmill test, and fatness was measured by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and percent body fat.

“It is possible for many older Americans to improve their fitness,” Dr Blair said. “The good news from this study is that they don’t have to be thin to benefit from being physically active.”

The study isn’t giving Americans permission to throw caution to the wind and eat whatever foods they want. “But people can say, ‘I may not be as thin as I was, but I can still be healthy because I’m being active and have a balanced diet’,” he said. “Enhancing physical capacity should allow older adults to achieve a healthy lifestyle and enjoy a longer life in better health.”