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Effect of Telephone Exercise Counseling on Frailty in Older Veterans: Project LIFE

Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center/Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, peter076{at}mc.duke.edu

Richard Sloane, MS, MPH

Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center/Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

Harvey Jay Cohen, MD

Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center/Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

Gail M. Crowley, MSN, RN, ANP

Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center/Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

Carl F. Pieper, DrPH

Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center/Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, Department of Biometry and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

Miriam C. Morey, PhD

Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center/Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

This study sought to determine if telephone exercise counseling attenuates frailty in older, male veterans through increased levels of physical activity. Eighty-one elderly, male veterans (age = 78.4 ± 4.9 years) randomized to intervention (n = 39) or combined control groups (n = 42) completed baseline and 6-month follow-up measures of gait velocity, 6-min walk, chair stands, body mass index, and physical activity. Adapting the Fried frailty model, deficits in one or more of these outcomes indicated frailty. The intervention group had a 6-month decrease of 18% in the proportion of frail to not frail participants, whereas the control groups had no change in proportions (Fisher's p = .08). Frail participants had a mean 6-month decrease in physical activity levels of 124 kilocalories/week, whereas the not frail group increased by 619 kilocalories/week (p = .07). There was a clinically meaningful change in frailty status with intensive, telephone exercise counseling. Improvement in frailty status was likely due to improvement in functional limitations.

Key Words: aged • frailty • exercise • intervention study

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