老年人日常活動量對於血小板功能與血中纖維蛋白原濃度之作用

Physical activity or exercise has been proved beneficial for health. The relation
between physical activities and health is becoming an important issue to be
investigated among the elderly. Many epidemiological studies revealed that exercise
reduces the mortality of cardiovascular diseases or stroke. Most researchers attributed
the effect of exercise to the improved profiles in blood pressure, glucose metabolism,
blood lipids, and weight control. However, exercise might have an effect on the
platelet function, coagulation, or fibrinolysis system. There have been many studies
evaluating the effect of exercise or physical activity on platelet function or plasma
fibrinogen concentrations in literatures. These results were conflicting with each other
and impossible to draw a conclusion currently. Few studies were performed among
the elderly. The purpose of this study is to study the effect of physical activity on
platelet function and plasma fibrinogen concentrations in the elderly. Predictive
factors responsible for the platelet count, plasma fibrinogen concentrations, and
platelet aggregation function will be explored also. Study subjects will be recruited
from a cohort of 1002 elderly persons who lived in Chung-Cheng District of Taipei
3
City and received comprehensive medical exam in National Taiwan University
Hospital in 1996. Subjects without a past history of cardiovascular diseases and
anti-platelet medication will be invited to take part in this study. A total of 80 older
men (mean age 77 years old) finished the assessments including “Modified Baecke
Questionnaire (Chinese Version)”, platelet count, plasma fibrinogen concentrations,
and platelet aggregation function. Subjects with the lowest quartile of physical
activity score were classified as sedentary, and the others were active. There was no
significant difference in age, height, weight, blood pressure, platelet count, and
plasma fibrinogen concentrations between the two groups. Borderline significant
difference was observed in ADP50, defined as the concentration with 50% response of
platelet aggregation. The effects of physical activity on platelet count, plasma
fibrinogen concentrations, and platelet aggregation function were not found in
Spearman’s correlation analyses. Findings of this study might provide evidence to
recommend the elderly to increase the amount of daily physical activities or
participate in exercise regularly. However, the association of physical activity level
with platelet function among older adults in this study was not conclusive.