Dataset Information

Mitigating cellular inflammation in older adults: a randomized controlled trial of Tai Chi Chih.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To evaluate the effects of a behavioral intervention, Tai Chi Chih (TCC) on circulating markers of inflammation in older adults.

Design

A prospective, randomized, controlled trial with allocation to two arms, TCC and health education (HE), 16 weeks of intervention administration, and 9 weeks follow-up.

Participants

A total of 83 healthy older adults, aged 59 to 86 years.

Measurements

The primary endpoint was circulating levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6). Secondary outcomes were circulating levels of C-reactive protein, soluble IL-1 receptor antagonist, soluble IL-6 receptor, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule, and IL-18. Severity of depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and physical activity was also assessed over the treatment trial.

Results

Among those older adults with high levels of IL-6 at entry, a trend for a treatment group by time interaction was found (F[1,70] = 3.48, p = 0.07), in which TCC produced a drop of IL-6 levels comparable to those found in TCC and HE subgroups who had low levels of IL-6 at entry (t72's = 0.80, 1.63, p's >0.10), whereas IL-6 in HE remained higher than the TCC and HE subgroups with low entry IL-6 (t72 = 2.47, p = 0.02; t72 = 1.71, p = 0.09). Decreases in depressive symptoms in the two treatment groups correlated with decreases of IL-6 (r = 0.28, p <0.05). None of the other cellular markers of inflammation changed in TCC versus HE.

Conclusion

TCC can be considered a useful behavioral intervention to reduce circulating levels of IL-6 in older adults who show elevated levels of this inflammatory marker and are at risk for inflammation-related morbidity.

SUBMITTER: Irwin MR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3247625 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Mitigating cellular inflammation in older adults: a randomized controlled trial of Tai Chi Chih.

Irwin Michael R MR Olmstead Richard R

The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry 20120901 9

<h4>Objectives</h4>To evaluate the effects of a behavioral intervention, Tai Chi Chih (TCC) on circulating markers of inflammation in older adults.<h4>Design</h4>A prospective, randomized, controlled trial with allocation to two arms, TCC and health education (HE), 16 weeks of intervention administration, and 9 weeks follow-up.<h4>Participants</h4>A total of 83 healthy older adults, aged 59 to 86 years.<h4>Measurements</h4>The primary endpoint was circulating levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6). Seco ...[more]

PMID: 21934474

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Project description:ImportancePrevious studies that have shown tai chi to improve sleep were mainly based on subjective assessments, which might have produced results confounded by self-reporting bias.ObjectiveTo compare the effectiveness of tai chi for improving sleep in older adults with insomnia with conventional exercise and a passive control group using actigraphy-based objective measurements.Design, setting, and participantsThis randomized, 3-arm, parallel group, assessor-masked clinical trial was conducted at a single research unit in Hong Kong between August 2014 and August 2018. Eligible participants, aged 60 years or older and with chronic insomnia, were randomly allocated into tai chi training, exercise, and control groups.Interventions12-week tai chi training, 12-week conventional exercise, and no intervention control.Main outcomes and measuresPrimary outcomes were measures taken from actigraphy sleep assessment. Secondary outcomes included remission of insomnia, insomnia treatment response, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score, Insomnia Severity Index score, and self-reported sleep using a 7-day sleep diary. Assessments were performed at baseline, end of the intervention (postintervention), and 24 months after the intervention (follow-up). Data analysis was performed from September 2018 to August 2020.ResultsA total of 320 participants (mean [SD] age, 67.3 [6.8] years; mean [SD] insomnia duration, 124.4 [134.5] months; 256 [80.0%] women) were randomly allocated into control (110 participants), exercise (105 participants), and tai chi (105 participants) groups and included in the data analysis. Compared with the control group, the exercise and tai chi groups showed improved sleep efficiency (exercise vs control: adjusted mean difference, +3.5%; 95% CI, 1.8-5.2; P < .001; tai chi vs control: adjusted mean difference, +3.4%; 95% CI, 1.6-5.1; P < .001) and reductions of wake time after sleep onset (exercise vs control: -17.0 minutes; 95% CI, -24.9 to -9.0; P < .001; tai chi vs control: -13.3 minutes; 95% CI, -21.3 to -5.2; P = .001) and number of awakenings (exercise vs control: -2.8 times; 95% CI, -4.0 to -1.6; P < .001; tai chi vs control: -2.2 times; 95% CI, -3.5 to -1.0; P < .001) as assessed by actigraphy at postintervention; although there were no significant differences between the exercise and tai chi groups. The actigraphy-assessed beneficial effects were maintained in both intervention groups at follow-up.Conclusions and relevanceConventional exercise and tai chi improved sleep and the beneficial effects sustained for 24 months, although the absolute improvements in sleep parameters were modest. Improvements in objective sleep parameters were not different between the tai chi and exercise groups, suggesting that tai chi can be an alternative approach for managing insomnia.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02260843.

Project description:BackgroundDegenerative osteoarthritis (OA) often leads to pain and stiffness of the affected joints, which may affect the physical performance and decrease the quality of life of people with degenerative knee OA. Compared to traditional exercise, tai chi is a safe exercise with slow movements which can facilitate physical functioning and psychological well being, and might be suitable for improving the physical activities of older adults with knee OA. Therefore, this study investigated the impacts of tai chi exercise on the functional fitness of community-dwelling older adults with degenerative knee OA.MethodsSixty-eight community-dwelling older adults with knee OA were recruited from the local community to participate in this randomized controlled clinical trial. All subjects were randomly assigned to either an TCE group that practiced tai chi exercise (TCE) (n = 36) or a control group (CON) (n = 32) that received regular health education programs twice per week for 12 weeks. Outcome measurements were determined using functional fitness tests before and after the intervention, including a 30-s chair stand (number of repeats), 30-s arm-curl (number of repeats), 2-min step (number of steps), chair sit-and-reach (reaching distance, cm), back-scratch flexibility (distance between hands, cm), single-leg stand (time, s), functional reach (reaching distance, cm), 8-foot up-and-go (time, s), and 10-m walk tests (time, s). Pre-post comparisons of functional fitness were analyzed using the ANCOVA test with SPSS software version 18.0.ResultsResults revealed that participants' functional fitness in the TCE group had significantly higher adjusted mean post-tests scores than that in the CON group after the intervention, including the 8-foot up-and-go (s) (mean difference [MD]=-2.92 [-3.93, -1.91], p = 2.39*10- 7), 30-s arm curl (MD = 4.75 (2.76, 6.73), p = 1.11*10- 5), 2-min step (MD = 36.94 [23.53, 50.36], p = 7.08*10- 7), 30-s chair stand (MD = 4.66 [2.97, 6.36], p = 6.96*10- 7), functional-reach (MD = 5.86 [3.52, 8.20], p = 4.72*10- 6), single-leg stand with eyes closed (MD = 3.44 [1.92, 4.97], p = 2.74*10- 5), chair sit-and-reach (MD = 3.93 [1.72, 6.15], p = 0.001), and single-leg stand with eyes opened (MD = 17.07 [6.29, 27.85], p = 0.002), with large effect sizes (η²=0.14 ~ 0.34).ConclusionsCommunity-dwelling older adults with knee OA in the TCE group had better functional fitness performances after the 12-week tai chi intervention than those receiving only health education.

Dataset Information

Mitigating cellular inflammation in older adults: a randomized controlled trial of Tai Chi Chih.

Objectives

Design

Participants

Measurements

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Mitigating cellular inflammation in older adults: a randomized controlled trial of Tai Chi Chih.

Similar Datasets

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