Search

Background: Earlier studies have shown that physical exercise and a higher workload increase muscle strength and improve gait and balance at all ages for both sexes. Published studies have, so far, failed to investigate the functional performance of elderly individuals concerning their long-term physical activity and variables of daily living.Objective: To compare elderly women who participate in long-term, moderate exercise programmes with two age-matched groups of women from an urban and a rural community.Methods: All participants answered a questionnaire about health, social circumstances and fractures. We measured the vibration threshold of the lower extremities, bone mineral density of the distal radius and functional performance such as muscle strength, balance and gait.Results: The elderly, active groups performed significantly better in all functional tests and had sustained fewer fractures than the urban control group. When the comparison was made with the rural control group the differences were less obvious. The active group rated their health as better than both the control groups.Conclusion: Elderly women, who continue with moderate exercise programmes over many years, sustain fewer fractures and have better muscle strength, balance, gait and health ratings than women in general. Whether this is the result of the exercise or inherited characters, remains to be proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explain the higher prevalence of fractures in urban compared with rural areas, 782 residents in the city of Malmö, Sweden and 486 inhabitants from the nearby rural municipality of Sjöbo were invited to participate in a sex- and age-matched cross-sectional study on life-style differences; 73 and 80% respectively responded. Responders answered a questionnaire on medical and social background and were interviewed on past and present physical activity. The men and women of the rural area were found to be significantly more active physically at work and during spare time. Housing was larger in the rural area. For women, these differences are decreasing in the younger age groups. Bone mass was found to be correlated to heavier work load for men. Other life-style variable such as dairy calcium intake, coffee drinking, estrogen medication, and morbidity, could not explain this difference. Higher prevalence of fractures in the city could therefore be explained by physically less active life-style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1,076 women who had been interviewed from 1970 to 1976 with regard to previous fracture and disease, all fragility fractures that occurred from 1975 to 1985 were recorded. Hip and vertebral fractures were good predictors of future fragility fractures but mainly in younger women (less than 70 years) and this was also the case for fracture of the distal end of the forearm in the age group 40-59. Later in life, falling tendency became the important predictor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A placebo-controlled, double-blind study was carried out over 4 months to evaluate two doses of synthetic human calcitonin (0.25 and 0.125 mg) given s.c. three times per week. Enrolled were 60 women, aged 56-82 years, who had experienced a vertebral fracture due to low-energy trauma within the preceding year. During active treatment there was within the first month a dose-dependent decrease of the indices of bone resorption (fasting urinary calcium and hydroxyproline excretions), whereas only the higher dose and a treatment period of 4 months produced a reduction of bone formation (serum osteocalcin). The bone mineral content (BMC) of the nondominant forearm was unchanged. Treatment with calcitonin also had significant, dose-dependent, analgetic effects. The amelioration of pain was, in multivariate analyses, related to a reduction in parameters felt to be markers for bone resorption. In the placebo group there was a significant reduction of the BMC of the forearm but no changes of any of the biochemical markers for bone turnover and no improvement of pain. In conclusion, treatment with two low doses of calcitonin induced changes of the biochemical markers of bone turnover in a dose-dependent manner. The analgetic properties of calcitonin were also of salient clinical importance. The knowledge derived from this study could be adapted to the dosage schedule in long-term trials in osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]