Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2008 , Vol 11, Issue 2
DETERMINATION OF PHYSICAL FITNESS LEVELS WITH PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE TEST SCORES OF ELDERLY
1 Gazi Üniversitesi, Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Yüksek Okulu, ANKARA
2 Selçuk Üniversitesi, Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Yüksek Okulu, KONYA
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the physical fitness level of elderly adults aged 60 years and over stay in public home for aged in Ankara according to their Physical Performance Test (PPT) protocol scores.

Materials and Method: A total of 107 elderly adults (50 male, 57 female) who did not have any medical problems to prevent or limit applying PPT protocol, participated in this study voluntarily. The subjects were divided into three age groups as 60-69, 70-79 and 80>. Some physical fitness tests and PPT protocol were applied to the subjects.

Results: At the end of statistical analysis of variables; especially in females significant decreases of physical fitness values were indicated through aging process, comparison of sexes indicated that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between males and females on all parameters except blood pressure and resting heart rate. Generally males had better scores, but flexibility scores of 70-79 age group females were significantly higher than scores of males (p<0.05). Also PPT score of females over 80 yrs were significantly lower than the other age groups.

Conclusion: Consequently physical fitness level decreases through aging and these deficiency were observed in females much more than males. Keywords : Physical Performance Test (PPT), Physical fitness, Elderly