RESEARCH
The FITTEST Study
Supporting older people to participate in frailty prevention programs
In the FITTEST Study, health professionals and researchers will be studying how to improve the health and wellbeing of older people by preventing frailty.
We know that programs that promote good nutrition, regular exercise, optimisation of medicines, and social support networks can reduce frailty levels. However, these programs are not routinely available and, where they are, people do not always join in.
The FITTEST Study will compare different ways to support older people to participate in frailty prevention programs.
About the trial
The FITTEST study will investigate the implementation and effectiveness of a multicomponent frailty program that integrates exercise, nutrition, optimisation of medicines and social connectedness.
People living in the community aged ≥ 65 years with mild frailty will be randomised to a supervised or self-directed intervention. Each intervention will be based on the latest evidence-based recommendations for exercise, nutrition, optimisation of medicines, and social connectedness, but we will use a different approach to facilitating behaviour change between the groups (health coach and health professional support vs. self-management approach).
The FITTEST study will commence recruitment in early 2024 and will recruit 390 participants with mild frailty from geriatric medicine clinics across Australia. We need geriatricians to identify people who they have seen in clinic that may be eligible to participate.
Become a recruiting clinic
If you would like to be an involved as a recruiting geriatric medicine clinic, please contact the team at [email protected].
Study team and funding
This study is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission (APP2016045). Professor Ruth Hubbard, Masonic Chair of Geriatric Medicine at the Centre for Health Services Research at the University of Queensland, is the Principal Investigator for this study.
The team includes Australia’s leading researchers in ageing, exercise, nutrition, pharmacology, social connectedness, and implementation science.
List of investigators
Chief Investigators
Institution
Professor Ruth Hubbard
The University of Queensland
Dr Adrienne Young
The University of Queensland
Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh
University of Sydney
Professor Sarah Hilmer
University of Sydney
Dr Natasha Reid
The University of Queensland
Professor Kenneth Rockwood
Dalhousie University
Professor Christopher Etherton-Beer
University of Western Australia
Professor Loretta Baldassar
Edith Cowan University
A/Professor Rosemary Saunders
Edith Cowan University
Professor Michelle Miller
Flinders University
Professor Mark Morgan
Bond University
Dr Emily Gordon
University of Queensland
Professor Tracy Comans
University of Queensland
Dr Paul Yates
Austin Health
Professor Jason Ferris
University of Queensland
Associate Investigators
Institution
Professor Simon Conroy
University College London
Ms Chandana Guhu
Consumer Representative
Ms Anja Christoffersen
Consumer Representative
Dr Lisa Kouladjian O’Donnell
University of Sydney
Dr Trinidad Valenzuela Arteaga
University of Sydney
Professor Genevieve Healy
The University of Queensland
Professor Gillian Harvey
Flinders University
A/Professor Jacqueline Liddle
The University of Queensland
Professor Sandra Thompson
University of Western Australia
A/Professor Ivaylo Vassilev
University of Southampton
