Stress impacts physical competencies in older obese adults

Objective:

The impact of obesity in reducing functional independence in the elderly population is a growing concern. Moreover, our knowledge on the impact of stress on physical functioning among such vulnerable individuals is limited. We investigated the debilitating effect of stress on fatigue of hand/arm muscles, which are essential in performing activities of daily living (ADL) pertaining to holding/grasping, in older obese and non-obese adults.

Study Design:

Forty-eight community-dwelling adults, stratified into four groups differing in age (younger and older) and obesity levels (non-obese and obese), underwent handgrip fatigue assessments in the absence and presence of a mental stressor. A decrease in handgrip endurance is associated with increased dependency in ADL in the elderly. Thus, we compared endurance times using a three-way mixed factor ANOVA.

Results:

Overall, stress was found to reduce endurance times by 12.5% across all groups (p<0.0001). A three-way interaction was found between age, obesity and stress (p=0.039); older obese adults demonstrated 33% lower endurance times compared to older non-obese adults. No such differences were observed in the younger age group.

Conclusions:

Stress can negatively impact performance of important ADL, such as holding/grasping, among older adults. Our study demonstrated that obesity influences this relationship by further reducing physical competencies.  This also becomes a critical concern during instances where holding/grasping onto handrails can save one from a fall. Further investigation is needed to effectively incorporate stress management practices in existing physical activity interventions in community settings.