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Introduction: Along with the rising life expectancy, there occurs an increased interest in geriatric care and in assessment of life quality in elderly persons. This study sought to examine the effects of physical activity on the quality of life in students of the University of the Third Age (UTA). Another purpose was to determine correlations between physical activity at a young age and the level of health state and physical activity at the time of the research as well as assessing the effects of socio-demographic factors on the quality of life in elderly individuals. Material and methods: The study included 138 UTA students (113 females and 25 males) aged 50 and above from Warminsko-mazurskie region. The questionnaire consisting of two parts was applied as a research tool. The first part included the authors’ own questionnaire with general questions as well as questions regarding physical activity levels at a young age and at the time of the research. The second part was made up of the standardised WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire (shorter version of WHOQOL) which was used to assess the subjects’ quality of life. Results: No significant differences between physical activity levels at a young age and at the time of the research were noted (p < 0.05). Self-evaluation of both life quality and heath state was significantly higher in individuals engaged in vigorous and moderate physical activity (p < 0.05) than in the other group. Conclusions: Physical activity of UTA students determines their quality of life and health state. Socio-demographic factors such as sex, age and a place of living influence the scores regarding the quality of life in WHOQOL-BREF domains.

Introduction:The aim of the study was twofold. First it was to assess the usefulness of the Jebsen-Taylor test of hand function in an analysis of rehabilitation outcomes in patients after radial bone fracture and second, it was to examine whether the results of JTT correlate with other methods applied in objective assessment of patients' functional state after radial bone fracture.Materials and methods: The study population consisted of 64 patients. The study included an assessment of hand functional mobility with the use of the JTT, measurement of the hand muscle strength with a hydraulic dynamometer, measurement of the pressure strength of the thumb with a grip dynamometer and pain measurement with the VAS scale. All tests were performed before and after 21 days of rehabilitation.Results: The time needed to perform all seven tasks included in the JTT was consistently reduced in both non-dominating and dominating hands and the results showed high reliability. Some correlations were observed between JTT and other methods of assessing outcomes of rehabilitation.Conclusions: The JTT is a simple, reliable, objective and standardised tool for clinical assessment of the functional state of patients with various hand dysfunctions and it should be widely applied in clinical practice. We found it to be reliable, easy to administer, and comprehensive in an assessment of hand functions. It correlated with several other measurement that assess outcomes of rehabilitation and therefore it is recommended that JTT should be combined with other methods to assess rehabilitation results and provide a comprehensive evaluation of the patient.