• Ralf Strobl, Martin Müller, Barbara Thorand, Birgit Linkohr, Christine S Autenrieth, Annette Peters, and Eva Grill.
• Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: ralf.strobl@med.uni-muenchen.de.
• Prev Med. 2014 May 1; 62: 8138-13.

ObjectiveEncouraging physical activity is an important public health measure to reduce disability prevalence in the aged. The aims of this study were to determine the association between midlife physical activity and late-life disability and to investigate gender-specific differences.MethodThis data originates from the KORA-Age cohort, a follow-up in 2008 of the MONICA (Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases)/KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) S1-S4 surveys (1984-2001) situated in Augsburg, a city in Southern Germany. We applied a multivariable hurdle model to investigate the association of physical activity and disability.ResultsWe analysed 3333 persons with a mean follow-up of 18±5.5 years. Using hurdle models, moderate activity and high activity had a protective effect on the occurrence of disability (OR (odds ratio)=0.80 and 0.73), but not on severity (i.e. number of limitations). We observed a strong gender-specific difference in this association, with men benefitting more from exercise.ConclusionElevated physical activity reduces the risk of becoming disabled and postpones the onset of disability by several years, but we could not show an effect on the severity of disability. In addition, men seem to benefit more from leisure-time physical activity than women.Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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