Effects of Aging and Tai Chi on a Finger-Pointing Task with a Choice Paradigm

Table 1

Comparisons of age, height, and arm length among young control, older control, and older Tai Chi subjects and of Mini-Mental Status Examination and physical activity levels between the two older groups.

	Young control subjects	Older control subjects	Tai Chi subjects	𝑃
	(𝑛=30)	(𝑛=30)	(𝑛=31)
Age (y)	24.2±3.1	72.3±7.2^†	70.3±5.9^†	<0.001*
Height (m)	1.67±0.08	1.58±0.08^†	1.59±0.07^†	<0.001*
Arm length (cm)	70.5±4.3	65.3±5.8^†	67.2±4.3^†	<0.001*
Gender (M/F)	15/15	15/15	15/16	0.989
MMSE score	—	26.7±2.0	26.6±1.9	0.966
Physical activity level				0.364
Light < 4 METs	—	𝑛=15	𝑛=10
Moderate 4–5.5 METs	—	𝑛=11	𝑛=16
Heavy > 5.5 METs	—	𝑛=4	𝑛=5

Note. Values are mean ± SD for this and all subsequent tables.
Abbreviations: F: female; M: male. MMSE: Mini Mental Status Examination; MET: metabolic equivalent.
—: denotes “There was no need to record the data.”
*denotes significant difference at 𝑃<0.01 level using one-way ANOVA.
^†denotes significant difference from the young controls at 𝑃<0.05 level by means of post hoc analysis using Bonferroni’s adjustment.