Japan and Korea are close neighbors geographically, and have similar cultures, but are quite different socio-economically. There have been few comparative studies of the two countries. The purpose of this study was to compare daily living physical activity (DLPA) and its components over a wide age range between Japanese and Korean elderly women. The subjects were 430 (176 Japanese and 254 Korean) elderly women, aged 65 to 84 years. Seventeen items related to DLPA were measured. The Pearson's correlation coefficients between the performance test scores and age were significant (P<0.05) for 17 items in Korean elderly wpmen and for 16 items (trunk flexion was not significant) in Japanese elderly women. The scores for 16 items in Korean elderly women and 15 items in Japanese elderly women were decreased markedly with aging, while changes in one item (Korea: foot-tapping in a sitting position) and two items (Japan: trunk flexion, sit & reach) were not significant. To identify potential dimensions of overall DLPA, principal component analysis was applied to a 17×17 correlation matrix. The first principal component was interpreted as fundamental DLPA. The results of the comparison clearly indicated that Korean elderly women had a lower fundamental DLPA level than Japanese elderly women in the 70-84 age group (P<0.05). Furthermore, to obtain a simple factor structure that would explain a large percentage of the total variance for these elderly women, extracted factors were rotated with a normal varimax criterion. DLPA was found to consist of 7 factors: locomotion (F1), agility (F2), flexibility (F3), balance (F4), muscle strength (F5), reaction time (F6) and leg endurance (F7). The results of comparison of the 7 factors between Japanese and Korean elderly women showed that Japanese elderly women performed significantly better on F1, F2, F4, F6 and F7 values, but were not different on F3 and F5. From these results, it can be concluded that advancing age significantly effects performance for all items in elderly women of both countries, and that the higher DLPA level reflects a lifestyle of more vigorous physical activity in Japanese elderly women.
