ArticleScientific reports2026
Monitoring muscle oxygen saturation during forest trail hiking: a prospective open-label quasi-experimental study with facility-based allocation examining physiological and immunological responses in older adults.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Forest-based physical activity has been proposed as a strategy to counteract age-associated declines in health, yet its mechanistic underpinnings remain unclear. Muscle oxygen saturation (SmO₂) may serve as a real-time marker of physiological adaptation during a physical activity. This study was conducted as an open-label intervention trial with facility-based allocation in 69 older adults (aged 66-78 years), comparing a forest trail hiking group (FTH, n = 34) with a control group (CON, n = 35). Participants in the FTH engaged in progressive low- to high-intensity hiking (120 min, twice weekly). SmO₂ of the vastus lateralis was continuously monitored, and pre- and post-intervention assessments included body composition, cardiopulmonary function, and immunological markers. During hiking, SmO₂ declined progressively, reaching a nadir at 60-90 min before partial recovery. After 12 weeks, the FTH showed reduced body fat, increased muscle mass, and improved VO₂max, FVC, FEV₁, and PEF, whereas the CON exhibited adverse trends. Immunological changes included decreased IL-6 and increased IL-10 and IL-12 in the FTH, alongside enhanced lymphocyte subsets. Ultimately, continuous SmO₂ monitoring provides an informative marker of muscle oxygen dynamics during prolonged outdoor activity. Forest trail hiking elicited broad physiological and immunological benefits in older adults, underscoring its therapeutic potential for healthy ageing. However, since the study did not incorporate functional immune assessments or specific biomarkers of immunosenescence, the findings should be interpreted cautiously and cannot be considered definitive evidence of immune function restoration.Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered with the Clinical Research Information Service of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Clinical Trials KCT0008712 on 18/08/2023.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.