Currently submitted to: JMIR Aging
Date Submitted: Mar 12, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 18, 2026 - May 13, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Effects of Maintaining or Initiating Exercise on Physical, Biochemical, and Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Older Outpatients: A Cohort Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Physical exercise has long been recognized as an effective strategy for promoting healthy aging, but most existing studies have primarily involved community-dwelling, relatively healthy older adults. Whether these benefits extend to older adults with chronic diseases remains uncertain.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of maintaining or initiating physical exercise on multiple aspects in older outpatients with chronic illnesses.
Methods:
We enrolled outpatients aged ≥65 years from a Geriatric Medical Center. Patients were excluded if they had experienced a severe illness requiring hospitalization in the year prior or during the observational period. A total of 118 participants were classified into no-exercise (n=42), low-intensity exercise (n=51), and median/vigorous-intensity exercise (n=25) groups according to the metabolic equivalents of their daily physical activity. Baseline and 1-year follow-up physical performance, laboratory data, and individual domains of quality of life (QoL) were compared among patients with different exercise habits.
Results:
There were no statistically significant differences in baseline age, sex, body mass index, Charlson Comorbidity Index, or the prevalence of common chronic diseases among the three groups with different intensity physical activity. However, a significant trend toward higher hemoglobin levels was observed with increasing exercise intensity. Additionally, the median/vigorous-intensity group showed significantly better physical performance, less depressive mood (GDS-15), and better physical functioning and vitality domains of QoL compared to no or low-intensity exercise groups. After 1 year of follow-up, participants who maintained moderate-to-vigorous-intensity exercise exhibited significantly higher hemoglobin levels, better QoL, and faster gait speed. Notably, 11 participants transitioned from other groups to the median-to-vigorous-intensity exercise group. Significant improvements in hemoglobin levels and the vitality domain of QoL were observed in these participants.
Conclusions:
This study found most older adults with chronic diseases engaged in insufficient physical exercise and further underscores that maintaining or newly initiating regular median-to-vigorous intensity exercise later in life can still confer meaningful health benefits. Clinical Trial: N/A
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