Background: We sought to examine prospectively the difference in the association between incident functional disability and exercise with or without sports organization participation.
Methods: The study was based on the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) Cohort Study data. In October 2003, self-reported questionnaires were mailed to 29,374 non-disabled Japanese individuals aged 65 years or older. Of these, 13,310 individuals were introduced to the Study, and they were followed for 4 years. Analysis was carried out on 11,581 subjects who provided all necessary information for the analysis.
Results: Analysis was carried out on incident functional disability by 4 groups of different combinations of performance of exercise and participation in a sports organization Active Participant (AP), Exercise Alone (EA), Passive Participant (PP) and Sedentary (S). Compared to the AP group, the EA group had a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.29 (1.02-1.64) for incident functional disability. No significant difference was seen with the PP group, with an HR of 1.16 (0.76-1.77). When a measure of social networks was added to the covariates, the HR of the EA group dropped to 1.27 (1.00-1.61), and significant differences disappeared. In contrast, it showed hardly any change when social support was added.
Conclusion: The results suggested that, even with a regular exercise habit, incident functional disability may be better prevented when a person participates in a sports organization than when he/she does not. In addition, participation in a sports organization correlates positively with social networks, which may lead to a small decrease in incident functional disability.