SHBC1547
S.S.FIRDAUS1, Z. T. KOH1, S. Y. LEE1
Tan Tock Seng Hospital1
Exercise is critical in combating frailty. Approximately 40% of older Singaporeans aged 60 and above are categorised as pre-frail. Otago Exercise Programme (OEP), which consist of strength and balance exercise, has been studied extensively overseas and the results show significant reduction in fall rate among the older adults. Our aim is to investigate the effectiveness of a multi-domain program incorporating OEP for community-dwelling older adults in Singapore.
Fifty-five participants (aged 60 to 90) with Clinical Frailty Score of 3 were recruited from four Senior Activity Centres. The multi-domain community program comprises of weekly one-hour OEP (17 progressive strength and balance exercises) and group discussions focusing on behavioural change were conducted across 12-weeks. Baseline and post programme (Week 12) measures were collected for all participants.
A total of 18 and 37 residents with Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) 6-9 and 10-12 participated in the program respectively. Sixty-one percent of the participants demonstrated at least one grade point improvement in their overall SPPB score. Minimally significant changes (≥0.05m/s) and substantial changes (≥0.1m/s) for gait speed timing were observed among 72% and 7% of the participants. Additionally, seven of the participants exhibited a minimally clinical importance difference (≥2.3 seconds) in their chair rise timings.
Our study has demonstrated preliminary local findings that a multi-domain community program incorporating OEP is effective in improving the function amongst community-dwelling residents. Future research will need to include a larger sample size and to investigate the long-term effectiveness of the program.
