Individual physical activity profiling in older adults: Reassessment of the exercise dose-response relationship in the era of wearables (PA-REFORM)

Our understanding of older people’s physical activity in relation to recommendations is based on flawed models that don’t account for an individual’s ability to move. Methods based on movement speed or volume may underestimate the actual load experienced by an older person. In this project we are using wearable technology and machine learning methodology to examine physical activity and internal load of exercise in older people.

Initial data collection in 2017-2018 was done in the AGNES study with 75-, 80- and 85-year-old people, and involved physical activity surveillance for one week using two wearable sensors: an accelerometer and a heart rate monitor. We repeated the activity assessments in 2021-2022 and will be following participants’ health until 2025.

We will develop a new method for quantifying physical activity in older people, which takes into account individual differences in physical capacity, and will make it possible to develop individualised physical activity recommendations.

Funding
Research Council of Finland 2021–2026, 339391, 346462
Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation 2020, 17.12.2019
Juho Vainio Foundation 2023, 19.1.2023

Research group
Principal Investigator
Laura Karavirta, Academy Research Fellow, PhD, Gerontology Reserach Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, laura.i.karavirta@jyu.fi

Timo Aittokoski, PhD, Postdoctoral researcher
Joona Neuvonen, MSc, Doctoral researcher
PhD thesis topic: Patterns of absolute and relative physical activity as predictors of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older adults

Collaborators
Taina Rantanen, Professor, Gerontology and Public Health, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Timo Rantalainen, Academy Research Fellow, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Neil Cronin, Professor, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Søren Brage, Associate Professor, Leader of the Physical Activity Epidemiology group, University of Cambridge