Women age 65 or older assigned to an exercise
program for 18 months appeared to have denser bones and a
reduced risk of falls, but not a reduced cardiovascular disease
risk, compared with women in a control group. Wolfgang Kemmler,
Ph.D., and colleagues at Freidrich-Alexander University of
Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, studied a total of 246
older women. Half of the women exercised four days per week with
special emphasis on intensity while the other half participated
in a wellness program that focused on well-being.
Among the 227 women who completed the study, the 115 who
exercised had higher bone density in their spine and hip, and also had a 66
percent reduced rate of falls. Fractures due to falls were twice as common
in the controls vs. the exercise group (12 vs. six). However, the 10-year
risk of cardiovascular disease-assessed using the Framingham Risk
Calculator, which incorporates factors such as cholesterol level, blood
pressure and presence of diabetes-decreased in both groups and did not
differ between the two.
"Because this training regimen can be easily adopted by other institutions
and health care providers, a broad implementation of this program is
feasible," the authors conclude.
Source : Archives of Internal Medicine
