ObjectivesFlexibility is recognized as one of the components of physical fitness and commonly included as part of exercise prescriptions for all ages. However, limited data exist regarding the relationship between flexibility and survival. We evaluated the sex‐specific nature and magnitude of the associations between body flexibility and natural and non‐COVID‐19 mortality in a middle‐aged cohort of men and women.DesignProspective cohort study.MethodsAnthropometric, health and vital data from 3139 (66% men) individuals aged 46–65 years spanning from March 1994 to October 2022 were available. A body flexibility score, termed Flexindex, was derived from a combination of 20 movements (scored 0–4) involving seven different joints, resulting in a score range of 0–80. Kaplan–Meier survival curves were obtained, and unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for mortality estimated.ResultsDuring a mean follow‐up of 12.9 years, 302 individuals (9.6%) comprising 224 men/78 women died. Flexindex was 35% higher in women compared to men (mean ± SD: 41.1 ± 9.4 vs. 30.5 ± 8.7; p < 0.001) and exhibited an inverse relationship with mortality risk in both sexes (p < 0.001). Following adjustment for age, body mass index, and health status, the HR (95% CI) for mortality comparing upper and bottom of distributions of Flexindex were 1.87 (1.50–2.33; p < 0.001) for men and 4.78 (1.23–31.71; p = 0.047) for women.ConclusionsA component of physical fitness—body flexibility—as assessed by the Flexindex is strongly and inversely associated with natural and non‐COVID‐19 mortality risk in middle‐aged men and women. Future studies should assess whether training‐induced flexibility gains are related to longer survival.

中文翻译：

---

身体灵活性下降与中年男性和女性的生存不良有关：一项前瞻性队列研究


目标柔韧性被认为是身体健康的组成部分之一，通常被纳入所有年龄段的运动处方中。然而，关于灵活性和生存之间关系的数据有限。我们在中年男性和女性队列中评估了身体灵活性与自然和非 COVID-19 死亡率之间的性别特异性性质和关联程度。设计前瞻性队列研究。方法来自 3139 名患者的人体测量、健康和生命数据（66%） 1994 年 3 月至 2022 年 10 月期间年龄在 46 至 65 岁之间的个人可供选择。身体灵活性得分，称为 Flexindex，是通过涉及 7 个不同关节的 20 个动作（得分为 0-4）的组合得出的，得分范围为 0-80。获得了 Kaplan-Meier 生存曲线，并估计了未调整和调整后的死亡率风险比 (HR)。 结果 在平均 12.9 年的随访期间，302 人 (9.6%) 死亡，其中包括 224 名男性/78 名女性。与男性相比，女性的 Flexindex 高出 35%（平均值 ± 标准差：41.1 ± 9.4 对比 30.5 ± 8.7； p < 0.001），并且与两性的死亡风险呈负相关（ p < 0.001）。调整年龄、体重指数和健康状况后，比较 Flexindex 分布上部和下部的死亡率 HR (95% CI) 为 1.87 (1.50–2.33； p < 0.001) 对于男性和 4.78 (1.23–31.71; p = 0.047）（对于女性）。结论 根据 Flexindex 评估，身体健康的一个组成部分——身体灵活性——与中年男性和女性的自然和非 COVID-19 死亡风险呈强烈负相关。未来的研究应该评估训练引起的灵活性增益是否与更长的生存期相关。