SingHealth Polyclinics - Functional Strength Building of Older Persons

NCT07133282 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: SHPFABULOS
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 227
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 4

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to find out if a 12-week exercise programme for pre-frail seniors will result in an improvement in physical performance measures. Participants attended 12 group exercise sessions, lasting one hour each, and held once a week. Three of these sessions were be conducted remotely, via a video link that participants will follow at their own time. Physical performance measures were taken at the first and last sessions.

Conditions

Prefrail Elderly

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Short physical performance battery score

  It assesses the functional mobility of an older adult's lower extremities in three domains (static balance, gait speed and chair stands). Balance is evaluated via the duration which participant can maintain side-by-side, semi-tandem, and tandem stances. Gait speed is measured by duration taken by the participant to walk 3 meters at their usual pace. Lower limb strength is assessed using the chair stand test, which records the time taken to complete five consecutive sit-to-stand movements from an armless chair with the participants' arms folded across the chest.

  Assessed at baseline (at the start of the first exercise session) and 12 weeks (during the 12th exercise session)

• Hand grip strength

  It is assessed using a handgrip dynamometer, with participants' elbows flexed at 90 degrees with the forearm in neutral position, squeezing the device as hard as possible with their left and right hands. The average recorded value from two measurements was used for analysis of this study

  Assessed at baseline (at the start of the first exercise session) and 12 weeks (during the 12th exercise session)

• 30-Seconds Sit-to-Stand repetitions

  30-Seconds Sit-to-Stand repetitions is a measure of lower limb strength, endurance, and functional fitness. It is performed by recording the maximum number of times a participant can stand up fully and sit down from an armless chair within 30 seconds, with their arms folded across their chest. A higher number of repetitions indicate better functional capacity

  Assessed at first exercise session and 12th exercise session (i.e. 12 weeks from baseline)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in exercise category in the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF)

  At enrolment, 6months post enrolment and 12 months post enrolment.

Other Outcomes (1)

• Satisfaction scores

  Administered at 12 weeks (i.e. at the 12th session).

Study Arms (1)

Exercise group

EXPERIMENTAL

The intervention was twelve sessions of group exercise, delivered by exercise physiologists from ProAge (a health promotion social enterprise), lasting one hour each and conducted weekly. Each group had 10-15 participants. Nine sessions were held in-person, and three out of these twelve sessions were held remotely - the physiologist would send a video link of an exercise session for participants to follow at their own time for the week.

Behavioral: Group exercise programme

Interventions

Group exercise programme BEHAVIORAL

12-week group exercise programme

Exercise group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• years or older, and
• Clinical Frailty score of 3 or 4.

You may not qualify if:

• Persons who had pre-existing medical contraindications to exercise OR
• clinical symptoms that rendered them unsuitable for physical activity as determined by their attending physician OR
• cognitive impairment affecting their ability to provide informed consent.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• SingHealth Polyclinics: lead

Study Sites (4)

SingHealth Polyclinics - Marine Parade

Singapore, Singapore, 440080, Singapore

Location

SingHealth Polyclinics - Sengkang

Singapore, Singapore, 545025, Singapore

Location

SingHealth Polyclinics - Punggol

Singapore, Singapore, 820681, Singapore

Location

SingHealth Polyclinics - Tampines

Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Location

Study Officials

• Pei Lin Hu, MBBS, MMED(FM), FCFP(S)

  SingHealth Polyclinics

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 25, 2025
• First Posted: August 21, 2025
• Study Start: March 15, 2022
• Primary Completion: June 8, 2023
• Study Completion: January 16, 2024
• Last Updated: August 21, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

SG (4)