Comparison of agility and dynamic balance in elderly women with endomorphic mesomorph somatotype with presence or absence of metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Physical function declines in efficiency with advancing age, contributing to disability. Furthermore, metabolic syndrome is a common illness in elderly populations, somatotayping is a technique for description of the physique and can establish a relation with performance and pathology. The aim of this work was to compare the agility, dynamic balance in elderly women with endomorphic mesomorph somatotype with presence or absence of metabolic syndrome. A sample of 18 volunteers was obtained (age 66.5±4.7 years old), all were elderly sedentary women. They were assessed whit anthropometric variables in accordance with ISAK protocol in order to determine Heath & Carter somatotype; presence of metabolic syndrome they were evaluated according with the NCEP ATP-III, the agility and dynamic balance was assessed with the functional test Time Up and Go (TUGT). Mean of somatotype in subjects with absence or presence of metabolic syndrome was 6.2-7.9-0.2 and 6.5-8.7-0.1 respectively; Shapiro-Wilk test checked the normality of the distribution in the functional test Time Up and Go, in the group with absence or presence of metabolic syndrome, based on its normality distribution for the intergroup comparison, the Student t test was applied, the significance level, utilized was 95% (P£, 0.05) for the sample assessed without metabolic syndrome, the execution time of the functional test TUGT was better in spite of the same somatotype intergroup. The pathological components of metabolic syndrome can be related whit dysfunctional mobility in elderly women.