Elderly Walk Further/Exercise More in Heart Drug Study
Scientists based at Dundee University are highlighting how a common heart drug may be capable of promoting exercise in pensioners. The researchers there found out that activity in elderly people increased when they were administered perindopril – an ACE inhibitor.
The patients participating in the study were aged 79, on average. When given the drug, they were observed to walk further distances than those, also taking part, who were solely given a placebo.
The hope now is that the research could be employed to generate a better life-quality for the UK’s elder generation.
In total, 130 people of pensionable age participated in the test, all of which had a limited degree of mobility. 20 weeks after it began, the perindopril group exhibited more capacity to exercise than those on placebos.
According to Professor Marion McMurdo, the effect of perindopril in the test subjects amounted to “a tremendously important finding”. "We have an ageing population and so it is vital to older people and the NHS that they stay as active as possible”, she said.
"We found that the people who had been given the drug could walk on average 30 metres further in six minutes than those who had been given the placebo. This is a level of improvement in exercise capacity that is equivalent to that reported after six months of exercise training, and may make an important difference for a growing sector of the population in which people might find it difficult to sustain that level of exercise."
The professor added that additional research was now required to establish exactly why perindopril had the effect it did.
Source – Pharmaceutical International’s Health Reporter
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