There are no data from a large, long-term, randomized, controlled exercise-only trials showing that exercise decreases inflammatory burden. This study is an ancillary study to the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study, which is a four-site, single-blind randomized, controlled clinical trial in 424 elderly men and women at risk for physical disability. The primary aim is to measure plasma concentrations of a panel of inflammatory biomarkers in fasting blood samples collected from LIFE participants at baseline, and at 6-mos and 12-mos following randomization to the interventions to test two primary hypotheses that: 1) compared to a non-exercise health education intervention, a 12-month exercise training intervention will decrease con-centrations of inflammatory biomarkers (specifically CRP and IL-6) in elderly men and women at high risk for physical disability, and 2) 12-mo changes in measures of physical function will be inversely related to changes in the biomarkers. |