Exercise and the onset of disability in later life.

OBJECTIVE: This study was to examine whether overall physical activity levels, and different types of earlier sporting activities, are associated with the onset of locomotor disability in early older age. METHOD: A longitudinal analysis of a general population cohort of British men and women born in the early 1930s was conducted. RESULTS: Measures of overall activity levels at age 58 did not show a relationship with locomotor disability 5-6 years later. Swimming was the only sporting activity to show any strong evidence of a protective association with later locomotor disability. DISCUSSION: The promotion of swimming in adulthood could play a role in the prevention of locomotor disability and aid people's ability to follow active living health promotion guidelines in late mid-life and early old-age.