Viability of an Educational Program for Lifestyle Changes and an Algorithm for the Derivation of Exercise Programs in Older People at Risk of Dependency at Primary Care.

Summary

According to the INE in 2021, more than 9 million people are currently over 65 years of age. This means that more than 1 million are frail and almost 4 million are pre-fragile only in Spain. Frailty is the prelude to disability and dependency, but unlike these, it is treatable and preventable. Currently, it is known that the best treatment for frailty is physical exercise and physical activity. The problem arises from the need that exists in the health system to prescribe individualized and patient-centered exercise, with the use of scarce resources (time, personnel, tools) and in a simple way in clinical practice. Additionally, the system needs tools that help us know (and predict) if this exercise prescription is efficient. Furthermore, frailty is a multidimensional syndrome, for which a comprehensive approach is necessary. The combined study of blood and digital biomarkers, as well as the plethora of dimensions evaluated (muscle and physical activity, cognitive, lifestyle, clinical, body composition, social, sleep), constitute an optimal approach that would provide a unique opportunity to understand prevention and treatment of unsuccessful aging and frailty. The PRICA-POWFRAIL project aims to examine the feasibility of an educational intervention to change lifestyle habits as well as the effect of a referral algorithm to an exercise program and lifestyle changes focused on treating specific deficits of low muscle power, powerful predictor of adverse health events. The subsequent referral will be implemented in a supervised exercise program at the functional, cognitive muscle level and in older people at risk of dependence. Secondarily, the effect of this intervention on blood biomarkers (at a genetic, epigenetic and metabolomic level), physical health (functional capacity, blood pressure, body composition) and mental health (quality of life and depression), as well as on other risk factors (genetic and biological) for the development of frailty. A total of 110 people older than 70 years of age in previous stages of dependency will be randomly distributed among the group of an educational program, the intervention group with supervised physical exercise, a intervention group with both previous educational and exercise programs and the control group. The design will include a 10- week intervention with pre and post-intervention measurement phases and a third measurement (retest) 12 months after completion. The supervised physical exercise program will be of a multi-component type including cardiovascular, muscular, coordinative and balance work, and a progression will be established in the different load parameters (frequency, volume, intensity, density). This will allow us to understand from a very complete perspective the causes and mechanisms underlying this response. The PRICA-POWFRAIL project Will mean a significant increase in scientific knowledge about the response and response rate to ultra-individualized exercise programs directed as a therapeutic measure in people at risk of dependency from a multidimensional perspective. In addition, the project will have a relevant impact at the social and economic level by transferring the findings of the study to the social and health field through the agents and means provided in it.

Conditions

• Frailty
• Disability Physical
• Old Age; Atrophy

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

EDUcation

The education intervention will consist of an individualized educative program based on intrinsic capacity optimization through lifestyle changes. To develop the program, the program creation team will be multidisciplinary (psychologists, medical doctor, dietitian…) and will discuss goal setting, the education strategy, and retention of motivation. The experts are required to create the education program such that the participants can manage their health by themselves. The goal will be self-management of dietary habits and increases in physical activity levels for each individual case. The education program will be in Spanish or in English; as it will consist in personal counselling, even with a low level of the language the communication will be possible. The nutritional education program will be conducted every 2 weeks for 10 consecutive weeks, with 20-min counselling sessions by an expert.

OTHER

EXERcise

The intervention period will have 10 weeks, in which the EXER group will carry out 2-3 sessions a week (total of 20-30 sessions). In this concurrent program, exercises of the lower extremities (leg press, abduction and plantar flexion) will be performed mainly on weight training machines. Intensity in each exercise will be individualized for each participant through a test to determine muscle power. In addition, in the last part of each session the participants will perform an endurance training type high insensitive interval training on a cycle ergometer (60-80 rpm). The intensity will be individualized to each patient through an incremental stress test until volitional exhaustion, and the subjects will alternate intervals of 30 seconds at 90% of the maximum workload, with intervals of 90 seconds at 40% of the maximum. Each session is estimated to have a total duration of 30-50 minutes.

OTHER

EDU-EXER

This group will carry out the same two previous interventions together.

OTHER

CONtrol

CONtrol group will continue the usual clinical treatment and their normal life

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Cadiz

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Alejandro Galan-Mercant, PhD · University of Cádiz

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

70 Years

Max Age

99 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-09-01

Primary Completion

2025-12-01

Completion

2026-02-01