A Trend Analysis of Physical Activity Research Across the Life Span in Korea, Part 1: Older Adulthood

This study aims to analyze research trends in life-span physical activity studies conducted in Korea from 2015 to 2025, thereby providing an integrated overview of fragmented findings and establishing a theoretical basis for the design of future research. Given the substantial accumulation of evidence spanning the entire life course, the project was designed as a series of connected studies. As the point of departure, the first study in this series focuses on physical activity research targeting older adults. From a total of 317 identified publications related to life-span physical activity, 65 studies addressing older adult populations were selected for in-depth analysis. The analysis is intended to synthesize the overall trajectory of the literature, clarify the scope and contours of scholarship in the older-adult domain, and offer a foundational map that can inform subsequent life-span research in terms of topic development and study design. By positioning older-adult physical activity research as the first step of a broader, sequential trend analysis, this study contributes to a more coherent understanding of how life-span physical activity research has been accumulated in Korea and provides groundwork for follow-up studies covering other life stages.