Agility Training for Older Adults to Improve Fall Risk Factors (AgilE)

Agility Training for Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

In this randomized controlled trial the effect of 4 months of multi-component (strength, balance, cognition, endurance) exercise training intervention on measures of neuromuscular performance, cognition, and endurance as well as neural adaptations on a central and peripheral level is investigated. 40 subjects are recruited that are generally health and between 60 and 80 years of age. The interventions is based around exercises, where different tasks have to be solved simultaneously rather than serially, as has previously been done.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sarcopenia; Aging; Cognitive Decline; Age-Related Loss of Skeletal Muscle Mass
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Agility training; Behavioral: Exercise recommendations; Behavioral: Exercise diary

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 48
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Basel-Stadt
    • Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, 4052
      • Departement für Sport, Bewegung und Gesundheit

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• willing to be randomized to either arm
• ability to travel to the sports facility twice a week
• understanding the german language

Exclusion Criteria:

• smoking, obesity
• history of cardiovascular, pulmonary or chronic inflammatory disease
• vision impairments
• orthopaedic problems preventing them from participating in an exercise program
• history of osteoporosis or recent low trauma fracture
• less than two weeks during the intervention period
• not have taken part in a structured exercise program more than once a week in the past three months

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Agility Training; 16 weeks, two times per week, 1 hour of multi-component exercise training, exercise guidelines and exercise diary.	Behavioral: Agility training; Multi-component (strength, balance, cognition) exercise training.; Behavioral: Exercise recommendations; Participants are being given the standard recommendations how much exercise and what type older adults should do.; Behavioral: Exercise diary; Participants are instructed to write down their physical activity and exercises.
Active Comparator: Control; Exercise guidelines and exercise diary.	Behavioral: Exercise recommendations; Participants are being given the standard recommendations how much exercise and what type older adults should do.; Behavioral: Exercise diary; Participants are instructed to write down their physical activity and exercises.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Isometric knee-extension strength	Strength in torque (N*m) of the quadriceps femoris muscle. Measured on an isokinetic device in an isometric condition.	16 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Isometric knee-flexion strength	Strength in torque (N*m) of the hamstring muscle group measured on an isokinetic device in an isometric condition.	16 weeks
Cognitive Processing Speed	Eriksen flanker task performance measured be reaction speed in milliseconds and accuracy in percentage.	16 weeks
Cognitive Impulsiveness	Go / No-Go task performance measured by reaction speed in milliseconds and accuracy in percentage.	16 weeks
Balance Performance	Staying as stable as possible during ten seconds in tandem stance eyes open condition. Center of pressure sway path length in mm and average sway speed in m/s is calculated.	16 weeks
Hand Grip Strength	Using a handheld dynamometer with an extended arm squeezing as hard as possible. Measured in N.	16 weeks
Counter movement jump power	Measured on a force plate participants are instructed to jump as high as possible with their hands akimbo. Peak of the time-power curve in Watts.	16 weeks
Blood Pressure	Blood pressure cuff on the right arm at the height of the aorta. Measured in mmHG.	16 weeks
Pulse Wave Velocity	Estimated from a mobile blood pressure cuff (mobil-O-graph) on the right arm. Measured in m/s.	16 weeks
Retinal vessel diameter	A photo is made from the retinal vessels with a static vessel analyzer (camera)through the eye and the vessel diameters are measured in mikrometers.	16 weeks
Quality of Life Questionnaire	26 item questionnaire (WHOQOL-Bref). Every answer is rated on a scale from 1 to 5. Aggregate Score from 0 to 100.	16 weeks
Fall Efficacy	16 item qestionnaire (Fall Efficacy Scale). Every answer is rated on a scale from 1 to 4.	16 weeks
Sleep Disturbances	7 item questionnaire (Insomnia Severity Index). Every answer is rated on a scale from 1 to 5.	16 weeks
Stress	10 item qestionnaire (Perceived Stress Scale). Every answer is rated on a scale from 1 to 5.	16 weeks
Depression	15 item questionnaire (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale). Every answer is rated on a scale from 1 to 4.	16 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Corticospinal Inhibition	Difference between paired and single pulse motor evoked potential by transcranial magnetic stimulation.	16 weeks
Voluntary activation	Degree of ability to contract the soleus muscle voluntarily.	16 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oliver Faude

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 13, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 15, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): December 15, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 13, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 3, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): February 14, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 3, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Neuromuscular Manifestations; Mental Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Anatomical; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Muscular Atrophy; Atrophy; Cognitive Dysfunction; Sarcopenia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2222-00145

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Publication of the raw data along the publication of the results. Data is anonymized. Outcome results of the individual tests are shared.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: End of 2023
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Open Access
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No