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Updated: Jun 16, 2026
10:19
Getting to Compliance in Forced Exercise in Rodents: A Critical Standard to Evaluate Exercise Impact in Aging-related Disorders and Disease
Published on: August 22, 2014
Exercise, physiological function, and the selection of participants for aging research.
Norman R Lazarus1, Stephen D R Harridge
1Division of Applied Biomedical Research, King's College London, Shepherd's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK.
Summary
Chronological age is not a reliable indicator of physiological decline in aging. Grouping individuals by functional capacity, like VO2max, offers a better approach to studying healthy aging. This method enhances understanding of the inherent aging process.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Exercise Physiology
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Vigorous exercisers are ideal for studying inherent aging, free from disuse complications.
- Cross-sectional aging studies often show a smooth decline in function with age.
- However, physiological function is widely scattered between young and old individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reevaluate published data on aging and physiological function.
- To determine if functional equivalence, rather than chronological age, is a better metric for aging research.
- To propose a new method for participant selection in healthy aging studies.
Main Methods:
- Reanalyzed meta-analysis data from 242 studies on men and women.
- Stratified VO2max values into 5 ml/kg/minute bandwidths.
- Allocated data points to functional bandwidths irrespective of chronological age.
Main Results:
- Functional equivalence bandwidths revealed distinct separation between young and old at functional extremes.
- Intermediate functional bandwidths contained wide age ranges.
- The decline in physiological function with chronological age is not smooth or well-defined.
Conclusions:
- Suggest segregating research participants into functional VO2max equivalence bands, irrespective of chronological age.
- Recommends subsequent physiological measurements within these bands to define participant profiles.
- Proposes longitudinal studies within functional cohorts to chart individual aging trajectories and enhance understanding of the inherent aging process.
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