Regular Exercise and Age-associated Decline of Pulmonary and Renal Function in Healthy Individuals

• Published in: Advances in Exercise and Sports Physiology 2011-08, Vol.17 (1), p.7-14
• Main Authors: Masato SUZUKI, Shinichiro AOYAMA, Daisuke SHINDO, Ikuo ISHIYAMA
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; jpn
• ISSN: 1340-3141

[Introduction] Metabolic syndrome (MS), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD) threaten the health of people in advanced countries, including Japan. The relationship between COPD, CKD, and exercise has not been investigated, whereas the relationship between risk factors for MS and regular exercise has been studied. The number of patients with COPD increases every year; 8.5% of individuals above the age of 40 have COPD (5). It has been reported that exercise treatments improve physical performance in patients with COPD (6,10,17). It would be intriguing to know whether improvement in physical performance in COPD patients were produced by an enhancement of pulmonary function, and whether regular exercise prevents an age-associated decline of pulmonary function in healthy individuals. In 2009, the number of patients in Japan with CKD was 13,300,000, and CKD is among the nation's most common diseases (16). Among the countries of the world, Japan has the highest percentage of its population undergoing hemodialysis. In particular, patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) constituted 44.5% of the patients undergoing hemodialysis (9).