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Physical Fitness Index for Older Adults in a Chinese Retirement Community
Jiahao Li1, Zhifan Ye1, Jiali Lu1
1School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China.
Background:
Physical fitness is important for health and independence in older adults, but existing systems do not always provide a continuous multidomain score.
Objective:
To develop and preliminarily evaluate a Physical Fitness Index (PFI) for older adults in a Chinese retirement community.
Methods:
A total of 561 participants aged 65-89 years completed assessments of body composition, strength, endurance, balance, mobility, and flexibility. Scores were normalized within sex and 5-year age groups and combined using a fixed radar-axis order.
Results:
The PFI averaged 39.24 ± 13.43 points (range, 4.16-84.47). In a reduced surrogate regression model, R2 was 0.825 and ten-fold cross-validation yielded an RMSE of 5.79 points and an MAE of 4.33 points.
Conclusion:
The PFI provides a continuous overall score with a domain profile, but its calibration and measurement properties require external and longitudinal validation.
