Lifestyle Medicine for Longevity (LSM4Long) pragmatic randomized controlled trial: development and implementation of a combined lifestyle intervention for older people in Long-Term Care

Worldwide the population is rapidly aging, but this increasing in longevity does not completely mean an extension of healthy lifespan. Population ageing is an inevitable irreversible demographic transition resulting towards longer life and smaller families, as a result, the utilization of long-term care (LTC) facilities is soaring. Innovative and comprehensive strategies are needed to support the well-being and quality of life among LTC older individuals. In long-term care facilities the burden of disability, morbidity and mortality is mostly attributable to cardiovascular diseases, sarcopenia, dehydration, and osteoporosis. Implementation of lifestyle medicine interventions in LTC is limited by personal or environmental barriers but also by barriers to organizing those programs.Nursing home residents are people with advanced disease and/or limited prognoses, and evidence about the implementation of lifestyle medicine interventions are somewhat limited. A Lifestyle Medicine for Longevity (LSM4Long) program has been developed and the effectiveness of the intervention assessed designing a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. The study took place in real-world setting (Nursing home) and residents living in the LTC facility. The three-months multicomponent intervention combined bi-weekly physical exercise groups, a healthy diet, and weekly psychological wellbeing sessions. Fifty-four patients (females = 39, 72.22%) with a mean age of 84 years took part to the study. At the end of the study, the intervention group showed a significant improvement in the total scores of all the scales, in particular: Barthel index (control group: mean=30.04, SD=29.54; intervention arm: mean=44.96, SD=26.72; p-value=0.02). After the interventions: SOD, GSH, 25OHD, and JC1 were significantly higher in the lifestyle arm compared to the control arm. Also, TBARS were significantly lower in intervention group compared to control arm.