February 2007

Middle age brings fitness declines and weight gains

Physical fitness and activity levels decline substantially as we reach middle age, resulting in increased weight gain and increased risk of heart disease, according to a study presented by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research at the American Heart Association’s 47th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Orlando, Fla.

The long-term study of physical fitness change included a large number of participants from two groups for which virtually no information on long-term physical activity change was available — women and African Americans. The study followed 2,289 men and women, ages 18 to 30, over a 20-year period at four research sites across the U.S.

Study participants, comprised of Caucasians and African Americans, saw their physical fitness levels decline by an average 28 percent, their weight increase by an average 20 percent, and their self-reported physical activity drop by an average 18 percent over a 20 year-period (1985-86 to 2005-06).

In the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity among adults ages 20 to 74 has increased from 15 percent to nearly 33 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.