The Effectiveness of Exercise Interventions for the Management of Frailty: A Systematic Review

Table 3

Description of studies that were done in retirement homes and in mixed settings.

N (%F); Mean age	Inclusion criteria	Intervention characteristics	Outcome measures^e	Quality	Reference
311 (94); 81	Transitionally frail (Speechley and Tinetti’s classification of frailty and vigorousness), living in retirement home, >70, at least one fall within the past year^a	Tai Chi, 48 weeks, 2/week, 60 min and progress to 90 min/session	Body composition (weight, body mass index); Cardio (resting HR and BP); Walking Speed; Chair Rises (3 times); Balance (one leg stance, functional reach, picking up an object from the floor, 360 turn, postural control); QOL (Sickness Impact Profile, self-rated health); Falls (incident rate, fear of falling)	5	[52–56]
57 (88); 84	Frail (age, comorbidity, polypharmacy, and prolonged stay in retirement home)^b	Multicomponent training (resistance, balance, and flexibility), 36 weeks, 3/week, 60 min/session	Body composition (body mass index, muscle mass); nutrition (haematological indicators, resting energy expenditure); muscle function (KE power); walking speed (6 meters test); chair rises (5 times); stair climb (3 steps)	3	[78]
551 (86); 80	Living in retirement home^d	Functional multicomponent training (aerobic, resistance, balance, flexibility, and coordination), 48 weeks, 2/week, 60 min/session	Neurologic (visual stimulus reaction time); muscle function (KE strength); mobility endurance (6-minute walk test); balance (postural sway, maximal balance range, and coordinated stability tests); falls (incident rate)	3	[91]
161 (86); 82	>65, living in retirement home and experiencing ADL disability^d	Task-specific resistance training (training in bed- and chair-rise subtasks), 12 weeks, 3/week, 60 min/session	Muscle function (lower, upper, trunk strength); flexibility (trunk, arm, leg ROM); chair rises (bed- and chair-rise task); balance (trunk)	3	[67]
49 (92); 79	Living at community or retirement home, KE muscle weakness^c	Resistance training, 10 weeks, 3/week, 60 min/session, 3 × 4 rep	Muscle function (isometric knee strength); walking speed (20 meters test); TUG; stair climb (box-stepping); balance (parallel, semitandem, and tandem stance); ALD disability (GARS)	4	[43, 44]
34 (85); 81	Living at community or LTC^d	Walking exercises, balance training, 12 weeks, 2-3/week, 40 min/session	TUG; stair climb (5 steps); balance (one leg stance, functional reach, manual perturbation test, functional balance scale); test batteries (POMA)	3	[88]

^aValidated operational definition of frailty.
^bNon-validated operational definition of frailty.
^cAt least one frailty indicator in the inclusion criteria.
^dNo frailty indicators on the inclusion criteria.
^eSignificant between-group differences are shown in bold.
ADL: activities of daily living; BP: blood pressure; GARS: Groningen activity restriction scale; HR: heart rate; KE: knee extension; LTC: long-term care; POMA: Tinetti performance-oriented mobility assessment; QOL: quality of life; rep: repetitions; ROM: range of motion; TUG: timed up-and-go test.