Resistance Exercise Training at Different Intensities in Healthy and Frail Older People: A Feasibility Study

October 9, 2018 updated by: Dr Evan Campbell, University of Glasgow

After the age of 40-45 years muscle mass and function progressively decline, reducing older peoples' abilities to perform tasks of daily living and also increase the risk of falls. It is known that, across the life course, resistance exercise can be of benefit in increasing muscle mass and function, yet how hard the exercise should be performed has received little attention. Current recommendations are for older people to perform exercise at 70% of the maximum they can lift, quite a high intensity that often puts older people off participating. Recent evidence in younger people has suggested that such intensities are not required.

The investigators aim to determine the feasibility of a study to investigate recruitment and adherence of older people to a study of exercise training at different intensities.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The cohort will comprise two sets of participants: frail older adults and non-frail older adults.

Each participant will receive 8 weeks of twice weekly supervised resistance training. Both the frail and non-frail participants will be randomised into either receiving high load resistance training or low load resistance training. High load resistance training will be delivered at 70% of the participants maximal capacity and low load resistance training will be delivered at 30% of maximal capacity. All resistance training will focus on the lower limb and regardless of intensity each exercise will be done to failure (unable to complete another full repetition).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Non-frail - Over 65 years of age Frail - Over 65 years of age, Three or more of the following criteria: >10lbs of weight loss unintentionally in previous year; grip strength in lowest 20% (by sex and BMI); self-reported exhaustion; walking time for 15 feet in slowest 20% (by sex and height); physical activity in the lowest 20%.

Exclusion Criteria:

Non-frail - Current participation in an exercise programme. Clinical team do not think resistance exercise would be safe or unable to consent. Any other reason that precludes participation in exercise, decision made by research team in consultation with a consultant in Geriatric Medicine where required.

Frail - Current participation in an exercise programme. Clinical team do not think resistance exercise would be safe or unable to consent. Any other reason that precludes participation in exercise, decision made by research team in consultation with a consultant in Geriatric Medicine where required.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: High load non-frail
Non-frail participants who will receive resistance training at 70% of their maximal strength
Moving muscles against loads with the purpose of increasing strength.
Active Comparator: low load non-frail
Non-frail participants who will receive resistance training at 30% of their maximal strength
Moving muscles against loads with the purpose of increasing strength.
Experimental: high load frail
Frail participants who will receive resistance training at 70% of their maximal strength
Moving muscles against loads with the purpose of increasing strength.
Experimental: low load frail
Frail participants who will receive resistance training at 30% of their maximal strength
Moving muscles against loads with the purpose of increasing strength.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of training sessions attended
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Expressed as a percentage of number of sessions attended
8 weeks
Compliance with protocol
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Expressed as a percentage of number of sessions where training protocol was adhered to
8 weeks
Number of treatment-related adverse events as assessed by CTCAE v4.0
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Number of adverse events that could be attributed to the intervention
8 weeks
Acceptability of intervention (qualitative)
Time Frame: 8 weeks
focus groups with semi-structured discussion plans will investigate the acceptability of the intervention
8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Muscle thickness
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Thickness of vastus lateralus using ultrasound (mm)
8 weeks
Muscle power
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Maximum voluntary contraction of a muscle at a set angle to produce a torque (kg)
8 weeks
Muscle strength
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Maximal load participant can lift (kg)
8 weeks
Frailty
Time Frame: 8 weeks
As measured by the Fried criteria. These are low energy expenditure, slow gait speed, weak grip strength, exhaustion, and unintentional weight loss. Fulfilling three of these criteria indicates clinical frailty.
8 weeks
Quality of life
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Measured using the Euroqol EQ-5 Dimension- 5 Level self report measure. This scale measures quality of life in 5 dimensions and produces an index of quality of life rangin from a worst quality of life at -1 to best quality of life at 1.
8 weeks
Activities of daily living
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Measured using the Barthel index. This scale measures ten variables of activities of daily living and produces an overall score. This ranges from 0-20 with a higher score indicating greater independence.
8 weeks
Activities of daily living
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Measured using the Lawton ADL scale. this self report measures assess independence in daily living in 8 different domains but produces an overall score. Scores range from 0-8 with 8 indicating full independence.
8 weeks
Functional abilities
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Short performance battery test. This battery of tests assesses balance, gait speed and lower limb strength. Scores are awarded for each individual section and aggregated ranging from 0-12 with a higher score indicating greater physical capability.
8 weeks
motion analysis
Time Frame: 8 weeks
biomechanical assessment using infr-red motion analysis cameras
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Evan Campbell, PhD, Univeristy of Glasgow

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 21, 2018

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

November 29, 2019

Study Completion (Anticipated)

November 29, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 2, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 8, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

August 13, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 11, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 9, 2018

Last Verified

October 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 3.0

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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