TY - JOUR
T1 - Lower physical performance in colder seasons and colder houses
T2 - Evidence from a field study on older people living in the community
AU - Hayashi, Yukie
AU - Schmidt, Steven M.
AU - Fänge, Agneta Malmgren
AU - Hoshi, Tanji
AU - Ikaga, Toshiharu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2017/6/17
Y1 - 2017/6/17
N2 - The aim of this paper was to explore the effect of seasonal temperature differences and cold indoor environment in winter on the physical performance of older people living in the community based on a field study. We recruited 162 home-dwelling older people from a rehabilitation facility in the Osaka prefecture, Japan, physical performance data were available from 98/162 (60.5%). At the same time, for some participants, a questionnaire survey and a measurement of the indoor temperature of individual houses were conducted. The analysis showed that there were seasonal trends in the physical performance of older people and that physical performance was worse in the winter compared with the autumn. Furthermore, people living in colder houses had worse physical performance. The findings indicate that keeping the house warm in the winter can help to maintain physical performance.
AB - The aim of this paper was to explore the effect of seasonal temperature differences and cold indoor environment in winter on the physical performance of older people living in the community based on a field study. We recruited 162 home-dwelling older people from a rehabilitation facility in the Osaka prefecture, Japan, physical performance data were available from 98/162 (60.5%). At the same time, for some participants, a questionnaire survey and a measurement of the indoor temperature of individual houses were conducted. The analysis showed that there were seasonal trends in the physical performance of older people and that physical performance was worse in the winter compared with the autumn. Furthermore, people living in colder houses had worse physical performance. The findings indicate that keeping the house warm in the winter can help to maintain physical performance.
KW - Field study
KW - Frail
KW - Indoor thermal environment
KW - Physical strength examination
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph14060651
DO - 10.3390/ijerph14060651
M3 - Article
C2 - 28629127
AN - SCOPUS:85021177558
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 14
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 6
M1 - 651
ER -
