An assessment of the relationship between the level of physical activity and the risk of falls and depression in elderly adults aged 60 - 75 years from the Podkarpackie region.

Introduction
Almost all societies of the world are ageing. One of the most common problems of the elderly are falls and mobility disorders. They may result in disability and in loss of functional independence. We conducted the study to assess the relationship between the level of physical activity and the risk of falls and depression in adults aged 60-75 years.

Materials and Methods
We used the random route method and included 500 subjects from southeast Poland. We measured physical activity with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and we assessed the risk of falls with the Tinetti test. To assess depressive states, we used the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). We used a questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic and anthropometric data.

Results
The mean weekly energy expense (metabolic equivalent of task - MET) of the studied population measured with the IPAQ was 823.88 MET min/week. We found a statistically significant relationship between the level of physical activity and the risk of falls and depression in the studied population. Subjects with insufficient physical activity had statistically higher risk of falls (p=0.0373), and had depression statistically more often (p=0.0003).

Conclusion
Subsequent studies should aim at establishing an optimal training programme for the elderly. It is important for subjects over 60 years of age to know that physical activity is crucial for maintaining good health and functional ability, as well as for subjective wellbeing.