Gerontology最新文献

{"title":"The Impact of Living at Moderate Altitude on Healthy Aging in Austria: Epidemiological Findings and Potential Underlying Mechanisms.","authors":"Martin Burtscher, Barbara Strasser, Jeannette Klimont, Barbara Leitner, Hanno Ulmer, Martin Kopp, Johannes Burtscher","doi":"10.1159/000545228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000545228","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Epidemiological data of populations living at moderate altitudes between 1,000 and 2,000 m suggest healthier aging when compared to people living in lower regions. Besides social determinants of health, lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors, environmental conditions such as ambient temperature, air pollution and aeroallergens, solar radiation and in particular hypobaric hypoxia may modify the risk of disease development and mortality. The present study was aimed at (1) evaluating altitude-dependent overall and age-specific mortality rates of the most prevalent diseases using mortality registries and (2) link them to differences in lifestyle and risk factors from a population-based survey in Austria. We analyzed altitude-dependent mortality data of the entire Austrian population over a 10-year period (2013-2022, including the COVID-19 pandemic) and the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, lifestyle factors such as the amount of regular physical activity and dietary habits based on a representative Austrian-wide survey from 2019.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>Mortality was reduced in both sexes when living between 1,000 and 2,000 m compared to those living lower: by 15% (13-18%) in men and by 22% (20-24%) in women (p < 0.05). People aged between 50 and 89 years, particularly benefited from living at higher altitudes. Women lived a healthier lifestyle than men, especially at an age of above 50 years, only women older than 74 benefited from a higher located residence regarding COVID-19 mortality.</p><p><strong>Key messages: </strong>The present study confirms mortality benefits at moderate altitudes. We propose that besides lifestyle and other environmental conditions, episodically occurring hypoxic periods and related hypoxia conditioning effects represent major underlying mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":"71 5","pages":"351-364"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144474937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Effect of Aging at Moderate Altitude on Cognition and Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety.","authors":"Katharina Hüfner, Linda K Rausch, Carina S Bichler, Johannes Burtscher, Marika Falla, Elisabeth M Weiss","doi":"10.1159/000547599","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000547599","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Minor and major neurocognitive disorders, depression, and anxiety are common in older adults. The brain, and specifically the aging brain, relies heavily on oxygen and is highly sensitive to reductions in oxygen availability. Hypoxia occurs during both acute and prolonged exposure to altitude. While the negative effects of very low oxygen levels at high altitudes (above 3,500 m) on cognition and symptoms of depression as well as anxiety are well documented, we propose that moderate altitudes (1,000-2,500 m) may have potential benefits for brain health by promoting stress tolerance and adaptability.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>This narrative review summarizes the impact of environmental oxygen availability on cognitive function and symptoms of depression and anxiety, considering the hypoxic dose (severity and duration of hypoxia). Given the limited data on moderate altitude and older adults, we also included results from studies involving younger populations and higher altitudes for comparison, alongside theoretical perspectives that still require experimental validation. We propose that mild hypoxia at moderate altitudes may enhance the brain's stress tolerance and adaptability, potentially through mechanisms involving metabolic and redox homeostasis as well as neurotransmitter regulation. However, the evidence remains inconclusive due to the influence of multiple confounding factors in most studies, complicating the ability to reach firm conclusions.</p><p><strong>Key messages: </strong>Severe hypoxia at very high or extreme altitudes has detrimental effects on brain health, particularly in the aging brain, resulting in cognitive impairment and triggering or aggravating symptoms of depression and anxiety. In contrast, the potential benefits of prolonged exposure to moderate altitudes on brain and mental health, especially in aging populations, remain a topic of debate. The limited number of studies, coupled with the presence of multiple confounding factors, makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"852-860"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144729735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Association of Timing of Physical Activity with Physical Frailty Incidence in Older Adults.","authors":"Masanori Morikawa, Kenji Harada, Satoshi Kurita, Chiharu Nishijima, Kazuya Fujii, Daisuke Kakita, Yukari Yamashiro, Naoto Takayanagi, Motoki Sudo, Hiroyuki Shimada","doi":"10.1159/000543283","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543283","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Maximizing the benefits of physical activity (PA) is important to prevent physical frailty for a measure of this public health issue. This study aimed to investigate the association of timing of PA with the conversion to physical frailty.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This longitudinal observational study enrolled a total of 1,310 community-dwelling Japanese older adults who enrolled in the National Center for Geriatric and Gerontology-Study of Geriatric Syndromes remained as the examined population. A health checkup was conducted to measure baseline characteristics. Subsequently, objectively measured PA was recorded for ≥7 days (≥10 h per day) for 30 days. Daily steps and the morning (6:00-12:00), afternoon (12:00-18:00), and evening (18:00-24:00) steps were calculated. A 2-year follow-up survey was administered to determine the frailty conversion, defined by newly acquired Kihon Checklist scores of 7 or higher. A logistic regression model was constructed with timing of PA and covariates as explanatory variables and frailty conversion as the dependent variable.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The number of conversions to frailty was 121 (9.2%). A significant association were observed between evening steps and frailty conversion (log(OR) = -0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.87 to 0.03; p = 0.037). No significant associations were observed in the PA of morning (log(OR) = -0.03; 95% CI = -0.51 to 0.55; p = 0.906) and afternoon (log(OR) = -0.36; 95% CI = -0.78 to 0.13; p = 0.117).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Evening PA could be advantageous in preventing frailty conversion among community-dwelling older adults. Maximizing the impact of PA may be effective against this public health concern, physical frailty.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":"71 3","pages":"165-172"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144474870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect of Persons with Dementia in Community Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.","authors":"Yan Shen, Fei Sun, Yali Feng, Peter A Lichtenberg, Hongdao Meng","doi":"10.1159/000543804","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543804","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Individuals with dementia are at an elevated risk for abuse and neglect. This study aimed to estimate pooled prevalence rates of elder abuse among community-dwelling individuals with dementia using a meta-analytic approach. Additionally, it explored the heterogeneity associated with prevalence estimates through subgroup analyses.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In line with the Cochrane guidelines, searches were conducted across eight academic online databases, reference lists of eligible studies, and existing systematic reviews. Eligible studies are studies published between January 1990 and March 2023 that report elder abuse among people with dementia (PWD) in community settings. The final review included 30 eligible studies from eight countries, encompassing a sample of 6,789 dependent/carer dyads.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The pooled rate of overall abuse among older adults with dementia is 42.6% (95% CI: 0.34-0.51). Among the various forms of abuse, psychological abuse was most prevalent, occurring in 44.8% of cases (95% CI: 0.37, 0.52), followed by financial abuse (28.3%, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.53), neglect (19.8%, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.34), and physical abuse (10%, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.13).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The high prevalence of elder abuse highlights the significant vulnerability of individuals with dementia. The highest rate of psychological abuse indicates a particular need to address emotional trauma of PWD, as well as to adopt measures to reduce abusive or neglectful behaviors via caregiver education and support.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":"71 5","pages":"400-416"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144474935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Psychological Effects of Mountainous Environments over the Life Span and Potential Implications for Healthy Ageing: A Narrative Review.","authors":"Benedikt Hösl, Martin Niedermeier, Johannes Burtscher, Martin Kopp","doi":"10.1159/000546367","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000546367","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Healthy ageing is defined as a process of preserving functional capacity to enable well-being in old age. This concept includes both a physical and a psychological component, which can be positively influenced by spending time in nature and being physically active. Mountainous areas offer diverse opportunities to be physically active in a natural environment. However, little research is available on the psychological effects of mountain environments and mountain sports, particularly in relation to healthy ageing.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>We analyse the extent to which the interactions of physical activity, nature exposure, and specific characteristics of mountainous regions including hypoxia may influence mental health, based on current research, and discuss the relevance of these factors individually and in combination for healthy ageing.</p><p><strong>Key messages: </strong>In general, the benefits reported from spending time in nature or physical activity seem to be transferable to mountainous regions and/or mountain sports. The available research primarily points to positive acute and longer-term psychological (and sometimes therapeutic) effects of exposure to mountainous regions and mountain sports performed in moderate altitude on various mental health parameters, such as well-being, anxiety, and depression, which could in turn promote healthy ageing. In contrast, staying at very high or extremely high altitudes seems to be associated with negative effects on mental health. Overall, further research is needed to draw more reliable conclusions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"546-554"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144150227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trajectories of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living and Their Predictors among Older Men and Women in Hong Kong: A 14-Year Prospective Study.","authors":"Zhihui Lu, Jason Leung, T W Auyeung, Jenny Lee, Kenneth Lo, King-Son Lai, Kuen Lam, Jean Woo, Timothy Kwok","doi":"10.1159/000543378","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543378","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>This study aimed to identify the different patterns of trajectories in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in older men and women, respectively, and to examine the factors associated with the different trajectories.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We included 2,088 participants with an average age of 70.8 years at baseline from the MrOS and MsOS Hong Kong cohort study (men: 1,074; women: 1,014) and followed up the participants for over 14 years. The group-based trajectory models were used to identify IADL trajectories. Binary logistic regression and multinominal logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with different trajectories.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Two distinct trajectories were identified for men including \"slow decliners\" (92.6% of men) and \"rapid decliners\" (7.4%), while three distinct trajectories were identified for women including \"slow decliners\" (43.5% of women), \"intermediate decliners\" (48.2%), and \"rapid decliners\" (8.3%). Being overweight or obese and slow walking speed were common predictors of more rapid IADL declining trajectories in both men and women. Particularly, having stroke, weak grip strength, and higher level of PM2.5 were associated with the higher risk of being rapid decliners in men, and having osteoporosis and poor self-rated health were associated with more rapid IADL declining trajectories in women.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Sex differences were observed in the IADL declining trajectories. Several risk factors were found that could possibly be useful in identifying and preventing functional impairments in an earlier stage.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":"71 2","pages":"81-87"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11854970/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144474862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bone Anabolic Treatment in Older Subjects: A Narrative Review.","authors":"Benjamin Hadzimuratovic, Daniel Mattes, Judith Haschka, Roland Kocijan","doi":"10.1159/000547313","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000547313","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The combination of an increasing life expectancy and an increasing risk of fractures in the aging population collides with the still inadequate primary and secondary fracture prevention in Europe. Osteoporotic fractures have a major impact not only on morbidity, quality of life, and mortality but also on healthcare costs. Therefore, an improvement of fracture prevention is warranted. Osteoanabolic drugs are particularly beneficial in patients with very high fracture risk and are recommended by numerous current guidelines as first-line treatment options.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>Osteoanabolic treatment leads to a significant improvement in bone mineral density (BMD), microstructure, and biomechanics. A superiority compared to antiresorptive treatment options has been demonstrated in clinical trials. However, the application of these therapies in the geriatric population addresses specific questions regarding efficacy, safety in terms of comorbidities, and feasibility regarding the route of administrations. Overall, post hoc analyses in this patient population demonstrate promising and comparable outcomes with respect to safety, fracture risk reduction, and improvements in BMD. However, data are limited and especially in romosozumab the contraindication in patients with a history of stroke or myocardial infarction should be kept in mind. Furthermore, a promising new anabolic oral treatment is currently under development and would further increase the armamentarium of osteoanabolic options. Osteoanabolic agents show positive effects on fracture healing and perioperative management for instrumentation surgery.</p><p><strong>Key messages: </strong>Osteoanabolic therapies should be individually evaluated in all patients with a very high risk for fracture, especially in the context of sequential therapy, since fracture risk declines rapidly, which is warranted not only for the individual health outcome but also for socioeconomic aspects. This narrative review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the efficacy and safety of the anabolic osteoporosis agents teriparatide, abaloparatide, and romosozumab in older individuals.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"842-851"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144626061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of Hemoglobin/Red Cell Distribution Width Value in Predicting Early Major Adverse Events after Open Heart Surgery in Elderly Patients.","authors":"Mesut Engin, Şenol Yavuz","doi":"10.1159/000547819","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000547819","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The world population is aging, and patients aged 65 and over are occupying an increasing position in cardiac surgery. As in many areas of medicine, various blood parameters have been investigated as prognostic values in cardiovascular surgery. In this current study, we aimed to investigate the place of the hemoglobin/red cell distribution width ratio (HRR) value in predicting major adverse events (MAE) that occur early after open heart surgery in elderly patients.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Patients over 65 who had open heart surgery in our clinic between January 2020 and January 2022 were included in this retrospective analysis. Patients who developed MAE during hospital follow-up were recorded as group 1, and patients who did not develop MAE were recorded as group 2.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The study involved 498 patients. The median age of the 71 patients in group 1 was 73 (65-85), while the median age of the 427 patients in group 2 was 70 (65-84) (p = 0.126). Gender, body mass index, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation rate, history of cerebrovascular accidents, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rates did not differ between the groups. As a result of the multivariate analysis, EuroSCORE II (OR: 3.925, 95% CI: 2.365-5.954, p < 0.001), need of intra-aortic balloon pump (OR: 1.523, 95% CI: 1.080-2.190, p = 0.029), and low HRR (OR: 0.696, 95% CI: 0.498-0.827, p < 0.002) values were found to be independent predictors of early postoperative MAE prediction.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In this study, we showed for the first time in the literature that the HRR value calculated from preoperative blood values is a key predictor for in-hospital MAE. In these patients, the HRR value can be used as a preoperative risk biomarker.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"835-841"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144816412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Heart Rate Dynamics during Localized Upper-Extremity Function as a Novel Measure of Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction: Investigation of Aging- and Disease-Related Alterations.","authors":"Kübra Akbaş, Mohammad Hosseinalizadeh, Kelsi Petrillo, Alexandria Jean L Rufin, Tana La Placa, Mark Russo, Nima Toosizadeh","doi":"10.1159/000546649","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000546649","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Cardiac autonomic dysfunction reduces the cardiac system's ability to respond to stressors and is prevalent in aging and diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases like aortic stenosis (AS). Heart rate variability (HRV) is a common measure for evaluating parasympathetic activity and cardiac autonomic function; similarly, heart rate (HR) changes during exercise are utilized in determining cardiac health. However, directly measuring HR parameters from an electrocardiogram (ECG) is difficult due to motion artifacts during exercise.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This study aimed to develop a method that assesses HR metrics while minimizing motion artifacts, using an upper-extremity function (UEF) test. We determined the effect of aging and AS on resting-state HR measures, while quantifying the relationship between HRV and HR dynamics. Seventy participants, including 21 young controls (age = 21.8 ± 3.2 years), 12 aging/older controls (age = 69.8 ± 4.0 years), and 37 aging/older adults with AS (age = 74.3 ± 10.4 years), performed a baseline rest followed by the UEF test consisting of 20 s of rapid elbow flexion-extension with the right arm; HR was measured using ECG from the left side of the chest. HRV outcomes included sample entropy (SampEn), root mean square of successive differences between heartbeats (RMSSD), percentage of successive NN intervals with differences of more than 25 ms (pNN25), and a Poincaré plot. HR dynamics were percentage HR increase during the UEF test and percentage HR decrease during post-task recovery.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>All resting-state HR measures, except SampEn, as well as HR increase and decrease due to UEF, were significantly lower in the aging/older adult control and AS groups compared to the young control group (p < 0.0072, effect size = 1.964 ± 0.399 for HRV and 1.534 ± 0.256 for HR dynamics). No significant differences were observed in HRV outcomes between the aging/older adult control and AS groups (p > 0.0706, effect size = 0.192 ± 0.082); however, HR decrease was significantly different between the two aging adult groups (p = 0.0440, effect size = 0.569). Across all groups, all HRV parameters correlated significantly with both HR dynamics measures (R2 = 0.233-0.463, p < 0.0001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings suggest that, compared to AS, aging has a more pronounced impact on HRV and HR dynamics. Further, HR dynamics, evaluated through a short physical test, may provide a potential measure of cardiac autonomic dysfunction, which is promising for future clinical applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"792-804"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144759915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Engagement in the Community-Based Going-Out Programs and the Association with Physical Frailty Assessed by the Kihon Checklist: A Cohort Study.","authors":"Masanori Morikawa, Kenji Harada, Satoshi Kurita, Chiharu Nishijima, Kazuya Fujii, Daisuke Kakita, Yukari Yamashiro, Naoto Takayanagi, Motoki Sudo, Hiroyuki Shimada","doi":"10.1159/000542089","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000542089","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>In efforts to address the public health concern of physical frailty prevention, community-based programs without supervision are anticipated, yet efficacy has not been shown. We aimed to investigate the association of engaging in an unsupervised, community-based going-out program on the incidence of physical frailty among older adults.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cohort observational study was employed. Following a baseline assessment during 2015 and 2017 in Japan, we observed 1,350 older adults engage in a community-based going-out program for 12 months. Participants were categorized into either a non-engaged or engaged group via propensity score matching. A follow-up survey (mean period = 920 ± 76 days) was conducted to investigate the occurrence of physical frailty using the Kihon Checklist. The incidence of frailty, absolute risk reduction, and number needed to treat for program engagement were calculated. The odds ratio (OR) in engaged group compared with the non-engaged group was determined in a logistic regression model.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Incidence of frailty was 15.1% in non-engaged group (n = 107 out of 628) and 8.3% in the engaged group (n = 53 out of 628). The number needed to treat and its 95% confidence interval were 21 (12-63) after matching. Compared with matched non-engaged group (OR 1.0), the OR and 95% confidence interval of matched engaged group for occurrence of physical frailty were 0.61 (0.42-0.87).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Engaging in the unsupervised community-based going-out program could prevent one incidence of physical frailty in every 21 participants and may thus contribute to preventing physical frailty at the population level.</p>","PeriodicalId":12662,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142768329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}