Yoga-based lifestyle intervention for healthy ageing in older adults: a two-armed, waitlist randomized controlled trial with multiple primary outcomes.

Yoga-based clinical research has shown considerable promise in varied ageing-related health outcomes in older adults. However, robust frameworks have yet to be used in intervention research to endorse yoga as a healthy ageing intervention to test the multidimensional construct of healthy ageing. This was an assessor-masked, randomized controlled trial conducted among 258 sedentary, community-dwelling older adults aged 60-80 years, randomly allocated to 26-week yoga-based intervention (YBI) (n = 132) or waitlist control (WLC) (n = 126). The effectiveness of YBI was assessed through two separate global statistical tests, generalized estimating equations and rank sum-based test, against a comprehensive healthy aging panel comprised of ten markers representing the domains of physiological and metabolic, cognitive, physical capability, psychological, and social well-being. The secondary outcomes were individual primary marker scores, Klotho, inflammatory markers, and auxiliary blood markers. We could establish the healthy aging effect of the 26-week YBI over WLC using two models of global statistical test (GEE, β = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.20 to 0.38, p < 0.001), and rank sum-based test (β = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.19 to 0.36, p < 0.001). There were also significant improvements in direction of benefit at individual levels of all the aging markers. Exploratory evaluation with adopted indices from contemporary clinical trials also validated the potential of YBI for healthy aging; HATICE adapted composite score (mean difference =  - 0.18; 95% CI =  - 0.26 to - 0.09, p < 0.001) and healthy ageing index (mean difference =  - 0.33; 95% CI =  - 0.63 to - 0.02, p = 0.03). The global effect of YBI across multiple ageing-related outcomes provides a proof of concept for further large-scale validation. The findings hold a great translational value given the accelerated pace of population aging across the globe. Trial registration: CTRI/2021/02/031373.