Changes in physical performance and frailty-associated risk associated with participation in a community exercise programme: Findings from the ExWell cohort.
6 affiliations
- 1Discipline of Public Health and Primary Care, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Electronic address: [email protected].
- 2Discipline of Public Health and Primary Care, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
- 3ExWell Medical, Dublin, Ireland.
- 4Physiotherapy, ExWell Medical, Dublin, Ireland.
- 5Discipline of Public Health and Primary Care, Trinity College Dublin, ExWell Medical, Dublin, Ireland.
- 6Institute of Memory and Cognition, Tallaght University Hospital, Dept of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Abstract
Introduction
Exercise can improve physical function and reduce disability in older adults living with frailty. ExWell Medical is a national, community-based, medically supported group exercise program for people living with chronic conditions in Ireland.Study aims/objectives
We aimed to evaluate the longitudinal association between baseline frailty status and outcomes including gait speed in ExWell programme participants.Methods
This is a secondary data analysis of a prospective cohort study. All participants attending an ExWell Medical induction in the Dublin/Kildare regions January-September 2023 were invited to participate. At baseline, 12, and 24 weeks we collected data on socio-demographics; health behaviours; measures of physical function; patient-reported outcomes. The cohort were stratified by Clinical Frailty Scale category at baseline.Results
We recruited 1290 participants (mean age 69 (SD:10.9) years; 60% female. At baseline 15% of participants were classified as frail, 23% prefrail, 62% robust. Baseline frailty was associated with a higher chronic condition count, higher health service use, poorer scores on measures of physical function, EQVAS, EQ5D5L index scores. There was an inverse association between frailty and class attendance (p < 0.001). Attrition increased with increasing baseline frailty status (p = 0.006). Participants who were frail at baseline had improvements between baseline and 24-week reassessment in gait speed, timed up and go, six-minute time trial, EQVAS; prefrail participants in the sit to stand test, six-minute time trial, EQVAS, but no improvement in timed up and go. Robust participants recorded improvements in all measures.Conclusion
Participation in the ExWell programme was associated with improvements across frailty groups in community-dwelling adults living with chronic conditions.
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BibTeX
@article{oshea2026changes,
title = {{Changes in physical performance and frailty-associated risk associated with participation in a community exercise programme: Findings from the ExWell cohort.}},
author = {Muireann O'Shea and Paul Doody and Noel McCaffrey and Aodhaghan O'Deasmhunaigh and Fiona Skelly and Lisa Kelly and Sean P Kennelly and Susan M Smith and Noel McCarthy},
journal = {The Journal of frailty \& aging},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.tjfa.2026.100199},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42832337},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Changes in physical performance and frailty-associated risk associated with participation in a community exercise programme: Findings from the ExWell cohort.
AU - Muireann O'Shea
AU - Paul Doody
AU - Noel McCaffrey
AU - Aodhaghan O'Deasmhunaigh
AU - Fiona Skelly
AU - Lisa Kelly
AU - Sean P Kennelly
AU - Susan M Smith
AU - Noel McCarthy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - The Journal of frailty & aging
DO - 10.1016/j.tjfa.2026.100199
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42832337
AB - Introduction Exercise can improve physical function and reduce disability in older adults living with frailty. ExWell Medical is a national, community-based, medically supported group exercise program for people living with chronic conditions in Ireland.Study aims/objectives We aimed to evaluate the longitudinal association between baseline frailty status and outcomes including gait speed in ExWell programme participants.Methods This is a secondary data analysis of a prospective cohort study. All participants attending an ExWell Medical induction in the Dublin/Kildare regions January-September 2023 were invited to participate. At baseline, 12, and 24 weeks we collected data on socio-demographics; health behaviours; measures of physical function; patient-reported outcomes. The cohort were stratified by Clinical Frailty Scale category at baseline.Results We recruited 1290 participants (mean age 69 (SD:10.9) years; 60% female. At baseline 15% of participants were classified as frail, 23% prefrail, 62% robust. Baseline frailty was associated with a higher chronic condition count, higher health service use, poorer scores on measures of physical function, EQVAS, EQ5D5L index scores. There was an inverse association between frailty and class attendance (p < 0.001). Attrition increased with increasing baseline frailty status (p = 0.006). Participants who were frail at baseline had improvements between baseline and 24-week reassessment in gait speed, timed up and go, six-minute time trial, EQVAS; prefrail participants in the sit to stand test, six-minute time trial, EQVAS, but no improvement in timed up and go. Robust participants recorded improvements in all measures.Conclusion Participation in the ExWell programme was associated with improvements across frailty groups in community-dwelling adults living with chronic conditions.
SN - 2260-1341
SN - 2273-4309
ER -