THE INFLUENCE OF BODY COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON INFLAMM-AGING, FATIGUE AND FUNCTION IN OLDER ADULTS BY

Persistent feelings of fatigue are a widespread complaint reported by older adults, and are associated with detriments in health and quality of life. Aging is also accompanied by gains in adiposity, reductions in physical activity, and loss of lean mass and physical function. This study assessed the influences of body composition [adiposity (%Fat) and mineral-free lean mass (MFLM)] and physical activity (total and moderate-to-vigorous; MVPA) on fatigue and function in older adults. Furthermore, we sought to determine the mediating role of systemic inflammation on these health outcomes. One-hundred eighty-two community-dwelling older adults were recruited to participate in this study (age = 69.2±6.7 years, 98 men, 84 women) Body composition [adiposity (%Fat) and relative muscle mass (Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI); appendicular MFLM/ht2 Men and women reported similar levels of fatigue in all dimensions (p> 0.05) with the exception of women reporting higher levels of mental fatigue than men (p = 0.05). Adiposity was positively correlated with several measures of fatigue (r range = 0.20 to 0.42), whereas PA was inversely associated with the same measures of fatigue (r range = 0.18 to 0.37), both of which were not related to mental fatigue. CRP, IL-6 and WBC were also related to several dimensions of fatigue (r range = 0.15 to 0.26)