A LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE ON PATTERNS OF PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY AND FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE AT THE AGE OF 76

In a population study, involving 293 women and 233 men, the relation b etween level of physical activity in earlier life and both physical ac tivity and performance at age 76 has been analysed. The life span was divided into five age periods from the age of 10 and described as comp etition sport, recreational sport, occupational physical load, househo ld work and means of transportation. The results revealed that when al l fields of activity were combined into a total measure of physical ac tivity, created through weighting, the earliest periods alone could no t explain activity patterns or performance late in life. After the age of 35 years in men and 50 years in women, however, the associations g rew stronger and the activity level of the last life period (66-76) wa s strongly correlated to all variables incorporated in the study. When , on the other hand, each field of activity was treated alone, above a ll recreational sport turned out to be positively related to walking s peed and physical activity at age 76 in both women and men for most li fe periods.