Association Between Exercise Program Participation and Hospitalization of Older Adults

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Government and insurance-sponsored exercise programs show reduced hospitalizations.
• Effectiveness of self-referred community exercise programs on hospitalization rates remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between participation in a community-based exercise program and all-cause hospitalization risk in older adults.
• To explore potential differential effects by gender.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of 718 older adults (2013-2020).
• Comparison of participants (≥3 months) in a community exercise center versus nonparticipants.
• Analysis of physical assessments, hospital data, and mortality databases; Cox proportional hazard modeling used.

Main Results:

• Sustained participation in exercise was linked to a lower rate of all-cause hospitalization (9.0% vs. 12.7%, p=0.02).
• Adjusted analysis showed a reduced hospitalization risk (HR 0.54; p=0.01).
• The reduction in hospitalization was significant in women (p=0.03) but not men (p=0.49).

Conclusions:

• Community exercise program participation is independently associated with a decreased risk of all-cause hospitalization.
• Potential gender-specific differences in benefits were observed.
• Further randomized trials are needed to confirm sex- and gender-specific effects.