Relationships between physical fitness and psychometric test outcomes in community-dwelling women aged 60–79 years

Little is known about the interrelationship between the results of commonly used psychometric tests in older adults across different decades of life in relation to their physical fitness. The aim of this study was to compare physical fitness and the results of psychometric tests in home-dwelling women in their seventh and eighth decades of life, as well as to examine the existing interrelationships between these tests in these groups of older adults. The study had a cross-sectional and observational design. The study included 76 women, divided into two age groups: the ‘seventh decade’ (60–69 years of age; n = 39) and the ‘eighth decade’ (70–79 years of age; n = 37). All participants underwent the following tests: Timed Up & Go (TUG); 30-second Chair Stand Test (30s CST); 6-minute Walk Test (6MWT); activities of daily living (Barthel Index); fear of falling (FES-I); depressive symptoms (CES-D); quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF); and physical activity level (IPAQ). Interrelationships between test results were estimated using Pearson’s correlation. The best predictor for each test was determined based on backward multiple regression analysis. It was shown that, although physical fitness was significantly lower in the eighth-decade group (TUG: p < 0.05; 6MWT: p < 0.01), psychometric test results did not differ significantly between the groups. In the seventh-decade group, the best predictor for CES-D scores was IPAQglob ( p < 0,01), for FES-I – CES-D ( p < 0,05); for WHOQOLog – WHOQOLhealth ( p < 0,001); for WHOQOLhealth – WHOQOLpsych ( p < 0,001), and for IPAQglob - CES-D ( p < 0,01). In the eighth-decade group, the best predictor for the Barthel Index was WHOQOLsom ( p < 0,001); for FES-I – 6MWT ( p < 0,05); for WHOQOLog – WHOQOLsoc ( p < 0,01), and for IPAQglob – body mass ( p < 0,01). The self-reported physical activity level in the IPAQ did not reflect the actual physical fitness of women in the seventh and eighth decades of life. Furthermore, women in these two age groups perceived differently the factors most responsible for fear of falling, depression level, and physical activity. Not applicable.