ABSTRACT
Objective
To assess cardiorespiratory capacity through subjective and objective tests in older adults diagnosed with major depression (MDD), Alzheimer disease (AD) and healthy older adults.
Methods
Fifty seven subjects (72 ± 7.9 years) were divided into three groups: MDD (n = 20), AD (n = 17) and Healthy (n = 20). The subjects answered Hamilton Scale (HAM-D), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Veterans Specific Activity Questionnaire (VSAQ) and 2-minute Step test.
Results
MDD and AD showed lower scores than healthy group for Nomogram VSAQ (p < 0.001) and 2-minute Step (p = 0.009; p = 0.008, respectively). Adjusted for age and educational level, no differences among groups were observed for Step (MDD, p = 0.097; AD, p = 0.102). AD group did not present differences to healthy group for Step, when adjusting for MMSE (p = 0.261).
Conclusions
Despite the lower cardiorespiratory fitness of elderly patients with DM and DA have been found in both evaluations, the results should be viewed with caution, since the tests showed low correlation and different risk classifications of functional loss. In addition, age, level educational and cognitive performance are variables that can influence the performance objective evaluation.
Aging; mental health; physical fitness
* p < 0.05. Significant difference compared to Healthy group . (Left) Comparisons of Nomogram VSAQ among groups. (Right) Comparisons of 2-minute Step Test among groups. MDD = major depressive disorder. AD = Alzheimer disease.