IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i16p8427-d611546.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Gender-Specific Relationship between Nutritional Status, Physical Activity and Functional Mobility in Irish Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Maeve Lorraine O’Connell

    (Department of Biological Sciences, Munster Technological University, Rossa Avenue, T12 P928 Cork, Ireland)

  • Tara Coppinger

    (Department of Sport, Leisure and Childhood Studies, Munster Technological University, Rossa Avenue, T12 P928 Cork, Ireland)

  • Seán Lacey

    (Department of Mathematics, Munster Technological University, Rossa Avenue, T12 P928 Cork, Ireland)

  • Tijana Arsenic

    (Department of Biological Sciences, Munster Technological University, Rossa Avenue, T12 P928 Cork, Ireland)

  • Aoife Louise McCarthy

    (Department of Biological Sciences, Munster Technological University, Rossa Avenue, T12 P928 Cork, Ireland)

Abstract

Research suggests that both nutrition and physical activity can protect mobility in older adults, but it is yet to be determined whether these relationships are affected by gender. Thus, we investigated the gender-specific relationship between nutritional status, physical activity level and functional mobility in Irish older adults. A cross-sectional study was undertaken in 176 community-dwelling older adults (73.6 ± 6.61 years) living in Cork, Ireland. Nutritional status was measured using the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) and physical activity was assessed via the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). Functional mobility was measured using the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. The gender-stratified relationship between variables was assessed using Pearson’s correlations and multiple linear regression. Partial correlations ( p < 0.05) were observed for TUG with PASE score in both genders, and with MNA-SF score in females, only. Multiple regression showed that physical activity was a predictor of TUG in both genders (β = 0.257 for males, β = 0.209 for females, p < 0.05), while nutritional status was a predictor of TUG in females, only (β = −0.168, p = 0.030). Our results suggest that physical activity is associated with functional mobility in both genders, while the relationship between nutritional status and mobility may be specific to older females. These findings may be of interest for the design of functional preservation strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Maeve Lorraine O’Connell & Tara Coppinger & Seán Lacey & Tijana Arsenic & Aoife Louise McCarthy, 2021. "The Gender-Specific Relationship between Nutritional Status, Physical Activity and Functional Mobility in Irish Community-Dwelling Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-10, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8427-:d:611546
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8427/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8427/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leon, Andrew C. & Heo, Moonseong, 2009. "Sample sizes required to detect interactions between two binary fixed-effects in a mixed-effects linear regression model," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 603-608, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quinn A. W. Keefer, 2022. "Sex Differences in High-Level Managerial Jobs: Evidence From Professional Basketball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(3), pages 301-328, April.
    2. Emily K. Ninmer & Hong Zhu & Kimberly A. Chianese-Bullock & Margaret Mehren & Naomi B. Haas & Merrick I. Ross & Lynn T. Dengel & Craig L. Slingluff, 2024. "Multipeptide vaccines for melanoma in the adjuvant setting: long-term survival outcomes and post-hoc analysis of a randomized phase II trial," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Block, Ray & Burnham, Michael & Kahn, Kayla & Peng, Rachel & Seeman, Jeremy & Seto, Christopher, 2022. "Perceived risk, political polarization, and the willingness to follow COVID-19 mitigation guidelines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    4. Meager, Rachael, 2022. "Aggregating distributional treatment effects: a Bayesian hierarchical analysis of the microcredit literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115559, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8427-:d:611546. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.