Physical Activity in Older Veterans and their Caregivers

Aims: To examine physical activity (PA) of older veterans with functional disability and their caregivers. Methods: Thirty-three older veterans (60 years) with functional disability (requiring assistance for activities of daily living) and their caregivers completed standardized questionnaires measuring comorbidity, sleep, depressive symptomatology, pain, caregiver burden, and functional disability. PA activity counts and sleep duration were measured using an activity monitor. Descriptive, analytic, and correlational analyses were performed. Results: PA was associated with sleep (veterans: r(s) = -0.38, P = 0.03; caregivers: r(s) = -0.54, P = 0.001) and caregiver burden (r(s) = 0.45, P = 0.02), but was not associated with the remaining factors of interest. Conclusions: The factors of interest chosen for study are known modifiers of older adult PA. The lack of association with many of the studied factors indicates that older veterans with functional disability and their caregiversmay experience unique challenges (e.g., sleep and caregiver burden) to being active that subsequently require unique strategies for increasing PA.