Health & Wellness
:j Issues concerning the well-being of the African American community
' * , ; ' ' ' . .
Fitness standards track aging process
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
* THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Just
because you're 75, you shouldn't
have trouble lifting a bag of gro
- ceries or getting up from a chair.
. But for millions of older Amer
1 icans, those simple activities are a
daily struggle. Disabling frailty
doesn't have to be part of aging. In
fact.jstudies have found that even
90-year-olds can rebuild lost mus
cle with some careful exercise.
It would be better to never
* become so frail in the first place,
* .and researchers have come up with
"a way to help: fitness performance
" ?standards to let anyone 60 and
;-older assess quickly if they're in
- good physical condition for their
I age, or if they're at risk of a down
* hill slide that could lead to a nurs
ing home. '
"Our main interest is in keep
ing people mobile and staying
I physically independent as Jong as
- possible," sajd Roberta Rikli, a
I professor at California State Uni
T versity, Fullerton. She led a study
of 7,000 Americans ages 60 to 94
that established the standards. If
the tests signal you're at risk of
becoming too frail, "we can do
something to try to prevent that,"
- she said.
J The exercise tests are simple
enough that many people could try
.them at home, and senior centers
around the country are starting to
use them. iv '**?
Frailty is a huge risk of aging.
* By age 70, most people have at
. least 20 percent less muscle than
they did at age 30. About 70 per
cent of elderly women are too frail
. to lift just 10 pounds, and 60 per
cent cannot perform such house
hold work as vacuuming. About
35 percent of men are equally frail.
Some of the muscle deterioration
may be inevitable. But Rikli says at
least half is due to people becom
ing more sedentary with age,
meaning that keeping active is
important if you want healthy
retirement years. Rikli and col
league C. Jessie Jones studied some
7,000 Americans over 60 who live
independently. They performed
such simple tests as:
? How many times in 30 sec
onds they could rise from a
straight-backed chair without
using their arms to push them
selves up. That measures lower
body strength.
? How many times in 30 sec
onds they could lift a weight - 5
pounds for women, 8 pounds for
men - in a "bicep curl" that mea
sures upper body strength.
? How many yards they could
walk in six minutes, to measure
aerobic fitness.
? How long it took them to rise
from a chair, walk eight feet and
return to a seated position, to mea
sure mobility.
The study, funded by a
Medicare HMO provider, set stan
dards for fitness levels that are nor
mal, below average, or so low that
people are at risk of needing a
nursing home. Say an 80-year-old
woman could stand up from a
chair without pushing off fO times
in 30 seconds. That's normal for
that age. But doing only 10 of
these "chair stands" at age 60 is
below average - and while people
at that level may function OK right
now, they're at big risk of losing
mobility by age 75.
?Rikli found that fitness
declined with age on average 1 per
cent a year. She advised people to
track whether they're declining
faster than normal, or ifexercise is
paying off and they're improving.
Regardless of age, people who
got moderate physical activity at
least three times a week were the
most fit. Some doctors already use
similar, but experimental tests to
assess elderly patients' limitations.
"They're very powerful predic
tors" of who will wind up disabled,
said Dr. Jack Guralnik of the
National Institute on Aging, a pio
neer of the studies. Rikli wants
such assessments to reach more
older Americans. v
She hopes to have easy-to-read
consumer brochures available by
fall to illustrate the tests and show
how to measure anyone's fitness
level against the national stan
dards. "That's an excellent idea,"
said GuraJnik. "The more people
^ :?
are aware of their level of func
tioning, the more they can tune
into the fact that they need to exer
cise."
Already, some of the 267 senior
centers that participated in Rikli's
study are using the fitness assess
ments. She will advertise the con
sumer brochures in publications
targeted to older Americans once
they're complete. But instead of
waiting, senior centers or doctors
could simply check April's edition
of the Journal of Aging and Phys
ical Activity for the Study results.
File photo
Disabling frailty doasn't have to bo a part of aging. Studios have
shown that exorcise rebuilds lost muscle.
fc,
Malnutrition a growing
risk to homebound elderly
By KATHERJNE ROTH ?
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS , __
NEW YORK - Ginevra Mattioli's husband and closest friend
are dead, her children live elsewhere and, at 89, she can't get to
the store on her own, much less prepare daily meals for herself.
The hot chicken and rice lunch on her table was brought to her
by volunteers.
"A body gets old.... I used to make lots of spaghetti. But now
I can't stand," says the Italian immigrant.
She touches a cut on her head from a recent fall, then men
tions that she has lost five pounds in recent weeks. Like many
home-bound elderly, Mrs. Mattioli must rely on outsiders' help
to provide her food. But one group that offers such meals - the
non-profit Citymeals on Wheels USA - cautions that that for a
growing number who depend on the program, one delivered meal
is simply not enough.
"Malnutrition among the elderly is a serious national epi
demic,": said Marcia Stein, president of the New York-based
group.
The problem has grown in part because people live longer; it's
being made worse by Americans' mobility, which often leaves old
people alone.
The concern is widespread. $
In North Carolina, for example, the Wake County Meals-on
Wheels estimates that 52 percent of its recipients are at risk for
malnutrition. Most of those are 80 and above, said Vivien Keys,
director of the county program. In Rhode Island, 900 people
receive the $4 to $5 meals daily while others are forced to wait
more than a year to start getting them.
"It's a major crisis. ... We have 300-plus people waiting every
week who are quite ill or terminally ill. And the problem is get
ting worse," said Denise Martin, director of development at
Rhode Island Meals-on-Wheels.
Nationwide, most of the 1 million meals delivered to homes
daily are funded by government. In New York, the private sector
provides about 37 percent, and Citymeals is trying to raise pri
vate donations in 20 cities to provide a second hot meal. Cur
rently, only the most at-risk people in a handful of cities - includ
ing New York, Miami and Buffalo - get a second meal. By con
trast, 41 percent of American, cities have waiting lists of elderly
seeking home-delivered meals.
For many, isolation is compounded by poverty. Almost 40
percent of recipients of home-delivered meals are living below
the poverty level, on $7,800 a year or less, Citymeals estimates. In
New York, 60 percent of meal recipients live in poverty. One of
See Malnutrition on C4
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" I am a doctor, a practioner of hope.
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I will be your strongest ally.
I am with you whenever you need me.
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I am a doctor devoted to a community
, of caring.
? *
I provide better days.
Luse my skill to be the best there is."
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Deems at Forsyth Medical Center where more doctors
^ trust their patients to our specialists than to
any other medical center in the region.
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