[Association between different types of physical activities and healthy longevity among elderly aged 75 years and...

Objective: To explore the relationship between different types of physical activities and health longevity among older adults aged≥75 years in China. Methods: The study participants were from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). There were 11 357 older participants who were≥75 years old and met the criteria of being able to achieve longevity (≥90 years) at the last follow-up in 2018. To assess whether healthy longevity was achieved at the endpoint of follow-up, the participants were categorized into healthy longevity group and control group. Healthy longevity was defined as participants living to≥90 years while maintaining health across five functional domains, including activities of daily living, mental health, cognitive function, as well as visual and hearing functions. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the effect of three types of physical activities including regular exercise, leisure activities and physical labor on healthy longevity. Results: Of all the participants, 729 (6.4%) were in healthy longevity group, aged (85.4±3.3) years, 417 (57.2%) male, and 10 628 (93.6%) were in control group, aged (83.2±3.7) years, 5 352 (50.4%) male. The proportion of regular exercise [40.5% (295/729) vs 32.7% (3 474/10 628)] and high leisure activity levels [56.9% (415/729) vs 43.6% (4 639/10 628)] were higher in the healthy longevity group than in the control group (all P<0.05). The results showed that regular exercise increased the likelihood of achieving healthy longevity by 35% (OR=1.35, 95%CI: 1.13-1.61), whereas leisure activity could increase it by 94% (OR=1.94, 95%CI: 1.64-2.31). Physical labor was not found to be statistically significant (OR=1.07,95%CI:0.86-1.33, P=0.818). In addition, there was a joint effect among different physical activities. The OR (95%CI) for achieving healthy longevity by participating in both regular exercise and high levels of leisure activity was 2.46 (1.98-3.06), compared to participants with no regular exercise and low levels of leisure activity. The OR (95%CI) for the combined effect of regular exercise and physical labor to achieve healthy longevity for participants was 1.44 (1.06-1.94), compared to participatnts with no regular exercise and no physical labor. The OR (95%CI) for the combined effect of physical labor and high leisure activity levels to enable participants to achieve healthy longevity was 2.09 (1.51-2.91), using non-participation in physical labor and low leisure activity levels as a reference. Conclusions: Taking part in exercise and a higher level of leisure activities at the same time are most beneficial to healthy longevity for the older adults aged 75 and above.