[Daily ailments among healthy, middle-aged adults - Situation report and explanatory approaches]

Background: Physical performance steadily declines with increasing age even among healthy adults.

A sport scientific screening-battery was used to determine the relationship between physical performance - that is endurance, strength, coordination, flexibility - and typical daily ailments as measured by a questionnaire among 222 healthy, middle-aged women and men. Cardiopulmonary performance was estimated by a 2-km walking test.

Cardiopulmonary performance declined significantly as a result of increasing age and increasing body-mass index. 44% of men and 29% of women reached substandard values when compared to norm tables. Daily ailments such as "Problems while climbing stairs" or "Breathing difficulty" showed a strong correlation to the estimated cardiopulmonary performance. In contrast, they were less influenced by strength or flexibility. The subjects were oblivious of the relationship between the decreased performance of the cardiovascular system and daily ailments.

Performing a simple screening-battery may be a good chance to promote the participation of middle-aged and non-athletic people in an adequate and health oriented sports program.