Elderly people cannot rely solely on walking to prevent disability. Research: Exercise combined with nutrition can reduce risks

As people get older, many of them have more than one chronic disease. How to avoid losing muscle mass and becoming unable to walk? A new study has found that preventing disability cannot rely solely on walking. Elderly people over 70 years old who are already physically weak, have muscle atrophy, and various chronic diseases can reduce their risk of disability or death by 22% if they change their lives through exercise, nutrition, and other aspects.

The research was published in Nature Aging. Researchers analyzed data from the European SPRINTT randomized clinical trial, which involved 1199 elderly people aged 70 and above from 11 European countries. These people are already physically weak, have muscle atrophy, and at least two chronic diseases.

The study divided them into two groups. A group receives "multidimensional life interventions", including personalized physical activities, nutritional counseling, and technological assistance. Exercise includes aerobic, resistance, flexibility, and balance training; The key to nutrition is to eat more protein and sufficient calories. The other group only attended health and aging education classes.

It was found that elderly people who received multi-faceted interventions had a 22% reduced risk of disability or death. That is to say, even if they have weakened, lost muscle mass, and multiple chronic diseases, appropriate exercise and attention to nutrition may still help them lose their mobility later.

Researchers also classified participants into four types based on chronic disease combinations: non-specific, psychiatric, cardiovascular metabolic, and respiratory disease types.

They found that elderly people with different combinations of diseases may have different reactions to the same life intervention. When analyzed using traditional statistical methods, the effect of mental illness type is most significant, reducing the risk of action disability or death by about 35%. Another statistical analysis shows that both psychiatric and non-specific types have clear benefit signals.

In contrast, the effects of cardiovascular metabolic and respiratory disease types are not as clear. However, this does not mean that exercise and improving diet are useless for elderly people with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases.

This study is a retrospective analysis of the original clinical trial, and formal statistical analysis has not yet confirmed that the intervention effects between the four disease patterns are truly different. So larger scale research is needed to verify.

A more reasonable statement now is that this intervention that changes lives from multiple aspects is beneficial for high-risk elderly people as a whole. The combination of diseases may affect the effectiveness, and in the future, it may help doctors develop more personalized prevention methods.