SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Aging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1679734
Effects of exercise interventions on physical function, cognitive function and quality of life of frail older adults in nursing homes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Henan University, Kaifeng, China
- 2Linyi University, Linyi, China
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Objective: Older adults often face frailty as they age, characterized by a decline in physical and mental health, leading to increased reliance on caregiving services, particularly in nursing homes. Exercise interventions have emerged as an effective means of improving health outcomes, but their efficacy for this population remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise interventions on physical function, cognitive function and quality of life of frail older people in a nursing facility. Methods: Data were systematically collected from five major databases and analyzed using RevMan 5.4 and Stata 17.0. Standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to evaluate health outcomes—including physical function, cognitive function, and quality of life—among frail older adults, and heterogeneity was assessed using the I² statistic. Results: A total of 16 studies comprising 1,444 participants (mean age ranging from 73.3 ± 6.4 to 87.3 ± 5.3 years) were included in the meta-analysis. The findings consistently demonstrated that exercise interventions produced significant improvements across multiple domains, including physical performance [SMD = 0.54, 95% CI (0.38, 0.70), P < 0.001], mobility [SMD = -2.42, 95% CI (-3.96, -0.87), Z = 3.07, P < 0.05], muscle strength [SMD = 2.00, 95% CI [0.32, 3.68], P < 0.05], quality of life [SMD = 1.94, 95% CI (0.37, 3.51), P < 0.05], and cognitive function [SMD = 0.64, 95% CI (0.13, 1.15), P < 0.05]. Notably, physical activity yielded pronounced benefits in alleviating depression [SMD = -0.78, 95% CI (-1.07, -0.49), P < 0.001] and frailty [SMD = -1.44, 95% CI (-1.74, -1.15), P < 0.001]. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that exercise interventions significantly improve physical function, mobility, grip strength, and lower limb strength. The results also showed positive effects on alleviating depressive symptoms and improving frailty status. with effect sizes indicating a substantial impact. Furthermore, subgroup analysis revealed that a regimen of at least three sessions per week, each lasting no less than 40 minutes, was associated with the most favorable outcomes.
Keywords: older adults, Nursing facility, Exercise, Meta-analysis, Systematic review
Received: 05 Aug 2025; Accepted: 22 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 莹博, Zhang, Li and Du. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yu Zhang, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
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