Higher Pain Intensity, Depression, and Being 75 Years or Older are Associated with Lower Levels of Self-Reported Physical Activity in Older Adults with Pain Attending Primary Care

Activity-Induced Pain as a Predictor of Sedentary Behavior Among Midlife Adults

Purpose: Midlife adults have been estimated to spend over half of their waking time engaging in sedentary behavior, and greater sedentary behavior has been associated with a reduced likelihood of successful aging. Moreover, more than one-quarter of midlife adults report chronic pain, and there is reason to believe that pain may contribute to sedentary behavior among this population. The goal of these analyses was to test associations between self-reported increases in pain during activity and subsequent sedentary behavior among a sample of midlife adults with chronic pain. Methods: Participants included 200 midlife adults (age 50-64) who reported chronic pain and completed an online prospective survey. Activity-induced pain was assessed at baseline and total time spent engaging in sedentary behavior was assessed at baseline, 1-week, and 4-week follow-up assessments. Results: Activity-induced pain predicted greater sedentary behavior at 1-week (p < .05) and 4-week (p < .01) follow-up assessments, even after controlling for chronic pain intensity and baseline sedentary behavior. Conclusions: Activity-induced pain may represent an important mechanism underlying sedentary behavior among midlife adults with chronic pain, and programs designed to reduce sedentary behavior among this population may benefit from tailoring to account for the antithetical influence of activity-induced pain. Indeed, the current findings suggest that mitigating the extent to which pain increases during activity may be more important than reducing overall pain intensity when attempting to decrease sedentary behavior among this population. This and future work have the potential to inform the refinement of tailored interventions.

Emotion regulation strategies and difficulties in older adults: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the types of emotion regulation (ER) strategies used and difficulties in emotion regulation experienced by older adults, within the theoretical frameworks proposed by Gross, and by Gratz and Roemer, respectively.

METHODS

A systematic search was conducted using principal electronic scientific databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). The systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses guidelines.

RESULTS

The final number of articles included was 44. Older adults reported a higher use of adaptive ER strategies, as well as fewer difficulties in ER, compared with younger adults. Findings from this review also suggest that the use of maladaptive ER strategies can also expose older adults to psychological distress, and may affect their adaptation to negative disease-related outcomes more common in later life.

CONCLUSIONS

Older adults generally showed a greater emotional control compared with younger subjects. Adaptive control strategies, rather than maladaptive control strategies, were correlated with more positive outcomes for psychological distress and adaptation to chronic diseases.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Understanding the nature of ER processes in older adults may contribute to implement tailored interventions aimed at reinforcing adaptive ER processes.

Mobile Apps to Quantify Aspects of Physical Activity: a Systematic Review on its Reliability and Validity

The purpose of this study was to systematically review and evaluate the evidence on the accuracy (validity) and consistency (reliability) of mobile apps used to quantify physical activity. Systematic literature searches were conducted in Pubmed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Academic Search Complete and IEEE Xplore. Studies were included if they reported on the validity and/or reliability of a mobile application aiming primarily at measuring physical activity in humans with or without pathology. The reference lists of included articles were also screened for reports not identified through electronic searches. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed by 2 independent reviewers and data extracted by one reviewer and checked for accuracy by a second reviewer. A total of 25 articles were included in this review, of which 18 refer to validity and 7 to both validity and reliability. Mean percentage difference was used as an indicator of validity and varied between 0.1% and 79.3%. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients varied between 0.02 and 0.99 indicating poor to excellent reliability. There is conflicting and insufficient evidence on the validity and reliability, respectively, of apps for measuring physical activity. Nevertheless, velocity and the place where the smartphone is carried seem to have an impact on validity.

One-Year Adherence to the Otago Exercise Program With or Without Motivational Interviewing in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

This study investigated if behavioral factors, treatment with behavioral support, readiness to change, fall self-efficacy, and activity habits could predict long-term adherence to an exercise program. Included in this study were 114 community-dwelling older adults who had participated in one of two home-based exercise interventions. Behavioral factors associated with adherence to the exercise program over 52 weeks were analyzed. The behavioral factors, specifically activity habits at baseline, significantly predicted adherence to the exercise program, with an odds ratio = 3.39, 95% confidence interval [1.38, 8.32], for exercise and an odds ratio = 6.11, 95% confidence interval [2.34, 15.94], for walks. Being allocated to a specific treatment including motivational interviewing was also significantly predictive: odds ratio = 2.47, 95% confidence interval [1.11, 5.49] for exercise adherence. In conclusion, activity habits and exercise in combination with motivational interviewing had a significant association with adherence to the exercise program at a 1-year follow-up.