Welcome to Dr. Warrick's podcast channel. Warrick is a practicing cardiologist and author with a passion for improving care by helping patients understand their heart health through education. Warrick believes educated patients get the best health care. Discover and understand the latest approaches and technology in heart care and how this might apply to you or someone you love. Hi, my name's Dr. Eric Bishop and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast and videocast station. Thank you for joining me. Look, I wanted to share with you a really interesting piece that I came across the other day. It's entitled, A 10-Second Test to Predict Mortality. Well, doesn't that make your ears sort of prick up with interest? It certainly did for mine, so let me tell you a little bit about it. It turns out that over the last years, there's been a Brazilian research group who've been following about 1,700 odd participants. 68% of those participants are male, so it's a male dominant group or cohort. They started about 15 to 20 years ago, and the participants' age was between 51 and 75 and the researchers were really tracking issues to do with exercise in those cohorts. Now what they did is then look at a very simple test to evaluate potential mortality and the test that they did was to stand on one leg for 10 seconds or more. And essentially these researchers observed that if an individual was unable to stand on one leg for 10 seconds or more, their likelihood of dying substantially increased over the subsequent seven years. What they also noticed was that at age 70 years of age, approximately 50% of candidates were unable to stand on one leg for 10 seconds or more. Well, the actual figures on it were that for those who failed the test, who were unable to stand on one leg, for 10 seconds, that over the next seven years, 17.5%, or nearly 20%, died. And of the people who could stand on one leg, only 4.5%, let's say 5%, died. That's a four-fold increase. And the cause of death in these individuals... was all-cause mortality, including cardiovascular and cancer deaths. So really, really interesting. We have historically often focused on cardiovascular health and cardiovascular fitness, being heart rate responses to exercise, such as walking or running, etc. But this particular study... focuses on the importance of balance, flexibility, strength and power. And when you think about it, these are really the things that define frailty as people age. So indeed, this 10 second test is actually a surrogate test for frailty. Really, really importantly, not only is this a surrogate test for frailty, But the very components of being able to perform this test will impact quality of life. And then, extremely importantly, independence. Because as people age, they strive to maintain their independence. And it is when they lose their independence that they may need to seek alternate living, accommodation or support, and potentially, therefore, a nursing home. So a quick 10-second test to give you a great idea as to how balanced or powerful or flexible or strong you are and therefore your ability to maintain independence in your own home but also an indicator of your seven-year mortality. Absolutely staggering stuff. It's particularly important because it turns out that my partner and I, Shell, have literally in the last couple of months been looking at being owners of a franchise here in Hobart of a franchise called Osteo Strong. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means... osteo-bone-strong meaning strength, but what it really means is that osteo-strong is a system of four major machines that work an individual in a maximal capacity for a very short period of time to try and achieve improved strength, improved balance, and improved bone strength. In fact, OsteoStrong is an anti-frailty device. And so when this particular 10-second test article came up, it was incredible timing because literally, Shell, my partner, and I had been looking at the possibility or feasibility of setting up an OsteoStrong center here in Hobart. And with this sort of information, I can't help but feel that it really validates the importance of trying to find anything we can do to keep strength, to keep balance. And of course, we know osteoporosis, cause of broken fractures, is a huge cause of mortality and morbidity as people age. minutes per week. So with a very short, sharp investment on a regular basis, individuals can actually improve their balance, their strength, and their bone strength, and again work towards mitigating frailty and work towards maintaining independence for as long as possible. I have to say that Shell and I started to explore osteo-strong really because it fitted in with my own philosophy, which is helping people live as well as possible for as long as possible. Well, I'm going to let you stand on one leg and see how you go. I hope you found this fascinating. I think it's really, really interesting. If you have any queries or questions, drop us a note at info at droregbishop.online or any suggestions for future podcasts, I'd love to hear. Till next time, again, I'd like to thank you for joining me. But until next time, I'd like to wish you the very best and I hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible. Take care and bye for now. You have been listening to another podcast from Dr. Warrick. Visit his website at drWarrickbishop.com for the latest news on heart disease. If you love this podcast, feel free to leave us a review.
