Leisure-time physical activity in midlife is related to old age frailty.

Background: There are scarce studies of the long-term associations between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in midlife and phenotypic frailty in old age.

Methods: We studied healthy Caucasian men of high socioeconomic status (N = 514), who had participated in health checkups during the 1960s (the Helsinki Businessmen Study, Finland). In 1974, they were examined with questionnaires and clinical examinations, and LTPA was collapsed into three categories: low (n = 87), moderate (n = 256), and high (n = 171).