Frontiers in Psychology · Oct 12, 2026

Effects of physical activity intervention on active ageing and physical function among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

By Wang W, Yao L

BACKGROUND: Although the health benefits of physical activity for older adults have attracted extensive scholarly attention, existing systematic reviews mostly focus on a single outcome domain. Few studies have simultaneously performed quantitative synthesis of Active Ageing and physical function within a unified analytical framework. OBJECTIVE: Registered on (PROSPERO registration: CRD420261465400), this systematic review and meta-analysis comprehensively evaluated the effects of physical activity intervention on Active Ageing (global Active Ageing, mental health, social participation, functional health) and physical function (SPPB, chair stand test, TUG, gait speed, handgrip strength, balance) among older adults. METHODS: Three databases including PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI were searched to retrieve peer-reviewed Chinese and English randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to July 1, 2026. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was adopted to assess the methodological quality of included studies. RESULTS: A total of 25 RCTs with a combined sample size of 7,861 participants were incorporated. For the Active Ageing domain, global Active Ageing (SMD = 1.38, 95%CI = [0.54, 2.22], p = 0.001), social participation (SMD = 1.03, 95%CI = [0.87, 1.20], p < 0.00001) and mental health (SMD = 0.6, 95%CI = [0.17, 1.03], p = 0.006) exhibited statistically significant improvements, whereas functional health showed no significant between-group difference (p = 0.07). In terms of physical function, significant improvements were observed in SPPB (SMD = 0.33, 95%CI = [0.07, 0.58], p = 0.01), chair stand test (SMD = 0.37, 95%CI = [0.10, 0.63], p = 0.006) and TUG (SMD = -0.68, 95%CI = [-1.16, -0.20], p = 0.006). No significant effects were detected for gait speed, handgrip strength and balance. Subgroup analyses provided exploratory insights into potential moderators of intervention effects. For mental health outcomes, twice-weekly interventions yielded significant within-group improvements, whereas three-times-weekly interventions did not reach statistical significance. However, formal between-subgroup comparison showed no statistically significant difference in effect magnitude across frequency strata, so these frequency-based findings remain hypothesis-generating and require confirmation in larger studies. CONCLUSION: Physical activity intervention significantly improves multiple dimensions of Active Ageing and partial physical function indicators in older adults, yet the ameliorative effects present domain-specific and indicator-specific characteristics. These findings yield preliminary evidence for physical-activity-related benefits across select active-aging and physical-function domains, though optimal intervention modality, frequency, intensity and duration remain undefined, precluding definitive program-design guidance from current evidence.

doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1958928 Open access PubMed 42936002 Interventions