Choi, Y.; Kim, D.; Kim, S.K. Effects of Physical Activity on Body Composition, Muscle Strength, and Physical Function in Old Age: Bibliometric and Meta-Analyses. Healthcare2024, 12, 197.
Choi, Y.; Kim, D.; Kim, S.K. Effects of Physical Activity on Body Composition, Muscle Strength, and Physical Function in Old Age: Bibliometric and Meta-Analyses. Healthcare 2024, 12, 197.
Choi, Y.; Kim, D.; Kim, S.K. Effects of Physical Activity on Body Composition, Muscle Strength, and Physical Function in Old Age: Bibliometric and Meta-Analyses. Healthcare2024, 12, 197.
Choi, Y.; Kim, D.; Kim, S.K. Effects of Physical Activity on Body Composition, Muscle Strength, and Physical Function in Old Age: Bibliometric and Meta-Analyses. Healthcare 2024, 12, 197.
Abstract
Objectives: Accumulating evidence suggests that physical activity (PA) is an efficient intervention to maintain functional capabilities and mitigate physiological changes in the older population. However, an attempt has yet to be made to comprehensively investigate the published landscape on the subject. Methods: This study had two aims. The first aim was to perform a bibliometric analysis for two keywords, “aging” and “PA”, to analyze the research trend. Since ‘frailty’ is the most noticeable co-occurring keyword with the two keywords, the second aim was to investigate the effects of PA, particularly resistance training (RT), on frailty via meta-analysis to provide a summary of the current evidence base. Results: Bibliometric analysis revealed that the number of publications on this research topic has gradually increased, highlighting the importance of understanding the role of PA in aging. A meta-analysis found that RT had significant beneficial effects on physical frailty factors, including handgrip strength, lower limb strength, balance, gait speed, and stair climbing ability. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that RT is an effective intervention for improving physical function in frail populations; thus it has important implications for the development of PA programs for older adults with frailty. Future research is warranted to explore the optimal dose, frequency, and duration of RT programs for older adults, as well as the potential benefits of combining RT with other forms of PA, such as aerobic or balance exercises.
Keywords
aging; physical activity; bibliometric analysis; meta-analysis; frailty; resistance training
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
