Functional fitness, lifestyle and demographic factors as predictors of perceived physical and mental health in older adults: A structural equation model.

Over the past 50 years, socioeconomic development has brought a reduction in birth rates, an increase in life expectancy and consequently in the elderly population. For this reason, there has been an increasing focus on physical and mental health of the elderly, promoting the concept of healthy aging. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between perceived physical and mental health of older adults and a variety of determinants, such as demographic factors, physical functional fitness, physical activity level, adherence to the Mediterranean diet and anthropometric indices, through a structural equation modeling (SEM). A cross-sectional observational study involved 208 elderly (24 men and 184 women) over the age of 60, fully independent and autonomous. Perceived physical and mental health were assessed with the Short Form 12 questionnaire. Basic sociodemographic information was collected; anthropometric features were directly measured, functional fitness was assessed with the Senior Fitness Test, and physical activity level was determined through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire; adherence to Mediterranean Diet (MD) was also collected through the MEDAS questionnaire. The SEM analysis revealed that functional fitness, which was a latent variable of the model described by the six administered fitness tests, was a strong predictor both of perceived physical and perceived mental health in the sample of elderly. Physical activity level was as predictor of the perceived physical component, but not of the mental health, while score of metabolic equivalent task did not result a predictor, as well as the sociodemographic factors and adherence to MD. The present findings suggest that it would be strongly recommended for elderly subjects to engage in physical activity specifically targeted to aged populations, in order to enhance their fitness abilities and enable them to improve the perception of their own health status.

How Does the Amount of a Physical Education Intervention Affect Gross Motor Coordination in Early Childhood?

Little is known about the dose-response of physical education interventions on motor coordination in preschoolers. Our aim was to investigate whether the development of motor skills changed depending on different amounts of a physical education program (PEP) in children aged 3-5 years. One hundred forty-five children were recruited from kindergartens and randomly divided into a control group (CG, n = 28), which did not perform any PEP, and two intervention groups, which performed 4 h/week (I1, n = 78) and 10 h/week (I2, n = 39) of a PEP for 16 weeks. Each lesson was set in the form of a programmed game in order to produce fun, thus increasing enthusiasm for participation. Before and after the intervention, locomotor and object control skills and the gross motor development quotient were assessed with the Italian version of the gross motor development test. Both intervention groups showed a significant increase in the motor skills compared with the control group. Moreover, the level of performance was significantly higher after 10 h/week compared to 4 h/week. These findings can be useful for standardizing PEPs in preschool settings so that they can be applied by teachers for planning effective programs for developing motor skills in early childhood.