Effect of physical activity interventions on physical and mental health of the elderly: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

This meta-analysis aimed to systematically assess whether physical activity (PA) can improve physical health(PH) and mental health(MH) in elderly.

METHOD

To conduct this meta-analysis, four databases were searched from the start to October 24, 2024 (Web of Science and PubMed in English, CNKI and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform in Chinese). Eligibility criteria included (1) study populations aged ≥ 60 years of normal elderly, with no gender restrictions; (2) the experimental group included PA interventions; (3) the control group consisted of non-PA interventions or usual activities; (4) assessment results from health evaluation tools and psychological scales; (5) the research design was a controlled experimental study. The Cochrane bias risk tool was used to assess the quality of evidence for each study. Among 4,151 potential related articles, 9 met the criteria for inclusion in this review.

RESULTS

The PA intervention shows a high degree of statistical heterogeneity in the overall results for the PH of the elderly (I²=93.8%, p < 0.01). The effect size of the PA intervention on the PH of the elderly is 0.86 (95% CI: 0.08, 1.64), which is statistically significant. Subgroup analysis showed that in intervention frequency, the heterogeneity for interventions less than three times per week is low (I² = 25.6%); in intervention duration, interventions lasting less than 30 min is relatively high, the direction of the study results is quite consistent. The overall effect size is 2.32 (CI: 1.45, 3.20), indicating statistical significance; in overall intervention duration, the overall effect size for interventions lasting less than 12 weeks is (CI: 0.08, 1.59), while the effect sizes for the other two subgroups include 0, indicating non-significant results. The overall results for the MH of the elderly also exhibit a high degree of statistical heterogeneity (I²=95.3%, p < 0.01). The effect size of the PA intervention on the MH of the elderly is -0.22 (95% CI: -1.46, 1.03), which is not statistically significant. Subgroup analysis also showed no statistically significant differences. The PH and MH of the elderly may potentially improve through PA interventions, although further research is needed to clarify whether these benefits hold clinical significance beyond statistical significance.

CONCLUSION

PA interventions with a frequency of less than 3 times per week, each session lasting less than 30 min, and a total duration not exceeding 12 weeks may be more effective in improving the PH of the elderly. This study did not identify the optimal dosage for improving the MH of the elderly. These findings highlight the potential benefits of PA for PH in the elderly but underscore the need for more rigorous studies to determine optimal intervention parameters and to explore the clinical significance of PA for both PH and MH.