Physical activity, fitness, and all-cause mortality: An 18-year follow-up among old people.

Background: Little is known about change in physical activity (PA) and its relationship to all-cause mortality among old people. There is even less information about the association between PA, fitness, and all-cause mortality among people aged 80 years and above. The objective is to investigate persistence and change in PA over 5 years as a predictor of all-cause mortality, and fitness as a mediator of this association, among people aged 80 and 85 years at the beginning of an 18-year mortality follow-up period.

The current state and developments in higher education in gerontology in the nordic countries.

The growing size of the older population challenges not only researchers but also higher education in gerontology. On the basis of an online survey the authors describe the situation of Nordic higher education in gerontology in 2008 and 2009 and also give some good examples of Nordic- and European-level collaboration. The survey results showed that gerontological education was given in every Nordic country, in 31 universities and 60 other higher education institutions.

Improvements in functional capacity from Nordic walking: a randomized-controlled trial among elderly people.

This study examined the effects of an instructed structured Nordic walking (NW) exercise program on the functional capacity of older sedentary people. Volunteers were randomly assigned to an NW group (68.2 ± 3.

Independent and combined association of physical activity and cardiac disease on mortality risk in the very old.

Objective: This study investigated physical activity as a predictor of all-cause mortality among 75- and 80-year-old people with and without chronic cardiac disease over a 10-year follow-up period.

Method: Using the Evergreen Project data, four study groups were formed according to the respondent's self-reported level of physical activity as well as chronic cardiac diseases: active without cardiac disease (control group = ANCD), active with cardiac disease (ACD), sedentary without cardiac disease (SNCD), and sedentary with cardiac disease (SCD).

Results: In the analyses, the ACD (HR 1.

European initiatives in postgraduate education in gerontology.

This paper describes three innovative European initiatives in postgraduate education in gerontology. The first is the European Masters Program in Gerontology (EuMaG), developed as an interdisciplinary joint program, supported and delivered by 22 European universities. Second, the Nordplus initiative to increase mobility of students and staff in the field of gerontology in the European Nordic countries is elaborated.