Impact Of A Walk With A Future Doc Program On Participant Frailty Levels

Frailty reflects the accumulation of health deficits across multiple health domains (e.g., mobility, cognition, vision, etc.) that increases the vulnerability to further adverse health outcomes, including morbidity and mortality. Community walking programs provide an opportunity for individuals to be physically active and may improve frailty levels. PURPOSE: Determine the impact of a student-doctor-led walking program on participant frailty. METHODS: From 2022-2023, we implemented a Walk with a Future Doc program that comprised a weekly walk and education session led by medical students. The group met for one hour/week for to 12 weeks. All participants completed the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging Frailty Index (FI) questionnaire before and after the program. The FI included 65 self-reported health items that covered basic activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, mobility, mood, and chronic health conditions. FI was determined as the number of deficits present ÷ deficits measured. We ran a two-way group (Non-Frail: FI <0.10 vs. Very-Mild+ Frail: FI ≥ 0.10) repeated measures analysis of variance with Bonferroni post-hoc testing to compare pre- and post-frailty indexes. RESULTS: Seventy-two participants completed the program and were primarily aged 61-70 years and female (~67%). Prior to starting the program, 49/72 were non-frail (FI <0.10) and 23/72 had a FI ≥0.10. We observed a group βψ time interaction (p = 0.01), with the Non-Frail group being unchanged (0.053 ± 0.029 to 0.059 ± 0.029; p = 0.14), but the Very-Mild+ Frail group reducing their frailty level from 0.169 ± 0.079 to 0.156 ± 0.071 (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: A community-based walking program incorporating education and medical students was effective for reducing frailty levels, particularly among older adults with FIs ≥0.10, supporting the effectiveness of movement for improving the health of people with health deficits.