Effects of exercise interventions on frailty in pre-maturely aging adults with intellectual disabilities- a...

Effects of exercise interventions targeting frail adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) are unknown.

This study compared the effects of a combined exercise, walking programs and no intervention on frailty and muscle mass in adults with ID and pre-frail or frail conditions.

This study was a quasi-experimental design, with 103 adults from six residential care and day-care centers in southern Taiwan completing study participation. A 10-week combined exercise and walking program were administered to the experimental (n = 36) and comparison (n = 32) groups respectively, with no intervention provided to the control group (n = 35). A questionnaire, measurements of frailty phenotype and a body composition machine were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared test, ANOVA and repeated measure ANOVA tests were conducted in the Chinese IBM SPSS 20.0.

Significant differences on level of frailty among the three groups were revealed after interventions. Mean differences of muscle mass demonstrated significant changes between baseline and after interventions, although improvements of frailty score between baseline and after interventions were not significant.

Our preliminary findings demonstrated the tendency of positive effects of combined exercise or walking programs in improving level of frailty and muscle mass in adults with ID. Early implementation of exercise interventions might be beneficial for prematurely aging adults with ID.