Associations of exercise habits in young adulthood and subsequent continuation of exercise habits with prefrailty and frailty in community‐dwelling older adults

Aim There is limited research on the relationship between exercise habits during early adulthood and their continuation into later life, as well as the impact on physical function in older adults. Methods The study involved community‐dwelling residents aged 60–79 years who participated in health examinations, physical function tests and questionnaire surveys in 2020 and 2021. After excluding duplicates, 862 participants (400 men and 462 women) were included. Exercise habits were defined as regular physical activity between ages 18 and 22 years, and from age 22 years to the present. Prefrailty and frailty were assessed using the revised Japanese Cardiovascular Health Study criteria. Results Among participants, 53.9% were prefrail and 2.8% were frail. Those with exercise habits between ages 18 and 22 years tended to have a lower probability of prefrailty/frailty compared with those without, with a multivariate‐adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57–1.04). Similarly, those who exercised after age 22 had a lower probability, with ORs of 0.61 (95% CI 0.42–0.88) for 1–10 years, 0.51 (95% CI 0.32–0.82) for 11–20 years, 0.55 (95% CI 0.32–0.96) for 21–30 years and 0.32 (95% CI 0.20–0.51) for >30 years of exercise. Conclusions Exercise experience during young adulthood, particularly the continuation of regular physical exercise from age 22 years onward, might reduce the probability of prefrailty and frailty later in life. Encouraging lifelong exercise might be a key preventive strategy against frailty. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2025; ••: ••–•• .