10 October 2007

Ageing research success for Dundee University clinicians

A regular dose of commonly-prescribed drugs can improve the exercise capacity and quality of life for older people, new research at the University of Dundee has shown.

Physical frailty and decline in later life are major public health issues facing most countries around the world. Although taking part in regular exercise does increase strength and slow decline in old age, the majority of older people are sedentary and either unwilling or simply unable to contemplate taking enough exercise to benefit their health. Alternative ways to maintain and improve physical abilities in later life are urgently required.

Clinical academics at Dundee University have now discovered a major advance in this field. They performed a trial in which 130 older people from Dundee and surrounding areas (average age 79 years) with difficulties in managing day-to-day activities were randomised to either take a placebo tablet daily or to take a commonly-prescribed ACE inhibitor drug (in this case perindopril) daily for 20 weeks.

ACE inhibitors are a group of drugs that are used primarily in treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure.

The Dundee team, running a blind test where neither the participant nor the researchers knew who was taking the active medicine, found that after 20 weeks the older people in the ACE inhibitor group had better exercise capacity and better quality of life than the placebo group.

"This is a tremendously important finding that will be of interest to all clinicians involved in the care of older people, and provides further encouragement about the possibility of slowing decline and disability in later life," said Professor Marion McMurdo, Head of the Ageing and Health unit within the School of Medicine at the University of Dundee.

"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 trial was funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive Department of Health.

This latest research built on the results of a previous trial where Professor McMurdo and her team looked at the effect of ACE inhibitors on elderly patients with heart failure, with similarly positive results.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Reference:
Sumukadas D, Witham MD, Struthers AD, McMurdo MET. Effect of perindopril on physical function in elderly people with functional impairment: a randomized controlled trial. CMAJ 2007;177 (8): 867-74.

Full paper with accompanying editorial available online: www.cmaj.ca

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