ArticleAmerican journal of preventive medicine2011
Physical activity across adulthood and physical performance in midlife: findings from a British birth cohort.
Article in American journal of preventive medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of meeting 24-hour movement guidelines in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- The association between balance and free-living physical activity in an older community-dwelling adult population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2018Pooled it
- Birth weight and muscle strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2012Pooled it
- Sex differences in the associations of accelerometer-determined physical activity with physical and cognitive function in older adults living in long-term care.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Physical Activity Across Adulthood and Bone Health in Later Life: The 1946 British Birth Cohort.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Sex differences in the strategies of haptic object memory in early adulthood.Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- Bidirectional associations of physical activity and cognitive function in midlife adults: a longitudinal analysis across 26 years follow-up.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Relationship of Lifespan Physical Activity Engagement With Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Adults: A Retrospective Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Sarcopenia.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2024Review
- Correlates of life course physical activity in participants of the Baltimore longitudinal study of aging.Aging cell · 2024Article
- Obesity in early adulthood and physical functioning in mid-life: Investigating the mediating role of c-reactive protein.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2022Article
- Is lifestyle change around retirement associated with better physical performance in older age?: insights from a longitudinal cohort.European journal of ageing · 2021Article
- Long-term conditions, multimorbidity, lifestyle factors and change in grip strength over 9 years of follow-up: Findings from 44,315 UK biobank participants.Age and ageing · 2021Article
- Objectively Measured Physical Activity Is Associated with Static Balance in Young Adults.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Grip strength from midlife as an indicator of later-life brain health and cognition: evidence from a British birth cohort.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- A Structured Approach to Evaluating Life-Course Hypotheses: Moving Beyond Analyses of Exposed Versus Unexposed in the -Omics Context.American journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Musculoskeletal Changes Across the Lifespan: Nutrition and the Life-Course Approach to Prevention.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Review
- Physical activity, sedentary behavior and functionality in older adults: A cross-sectional path analysis.PloS one · 2021Observational
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEvidence, mainly from cross-sectional studies, suggests that physical activity is a potentially important modifiable factor associated with physical performance and strength in older age. It is unclear whether the benefits of physical activity accumulate across life or whether there are sensitive periods when physical activity is more influential. PURPOSE: To examine the associations of leisure-time physical activity across adulthood with physical performance and strength in midlife, and to test whether there are cumulative benefits of physical activity.
methodsUsing data on approximately 2400 men and women from the UK Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, followed up since birth in March 1946, the associations of physical activity levels during leisure time self-reported prospectively at ages 36, 43, and 53 years with grip strength, standing balance, and chair rise times, assessed by nurses at age 53 years (in 1999), were examined in 2010.
resultsThere were independent positive effects of physical activity at all three ages on chair rise performance, and at ages 43 and 53 years on standing balance performance, even after adjusting for covariates. These results were supported by evidence of cumulative effects found when using structured life course models. Physical activity and grip strength were not associated in women and, in men, only physical activity at age 53 years was associated with grip strength.
conclusionsThere are cumulative benefits of physical activity across adulthood on physical performance in midlife. Increased activity should be promoted early in adulthood to ensure the maintenance of physical performance in later life.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.