Age and Ageing, Vol 29, 143-148, Copyright © 2000 by British Geriatrics Society
L Simons, J McCallum, Y Friedlander and J Simons
Objective. To identify subgroups within the population
with reduced or delayed disability during healthy ageing.Design.
A longitudinal, community-based study.Setting.
Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia.Participants.
2805 men and women 60 years and older, first examined in
1988-89.Outcome measures. Activities of daily living
assessed serially every 2 years over 8 years (scored in the range 0-6,
least to most impaired); scores related to subsequent hospital admissions
and to demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics at
baseline.Results. 1973 men and women provided complete
follow-up data. Mean disability score at entry was low at 0.18 and
increased to 0.69 by the final survey. Those having three or more hospital
admissions (40% of the sample) had minimum disability (disability score
ARTICLES
Healthy ageing is associated with reduced and delayed disability
University of NSW Lipid Research Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Sydney, Australia; Faculty of Health, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Department of Social Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel; Corresponding author; Fax: (+61) 2 9361 2234; E-mail: l.simons@notes.med.unsw.edu.au
0.3) around 5 years earlier than those with fewer admissions.
Those with dementia or other mental illness had the most severe disability
(mean disability scores of 3.15 and 2.13 respectively), but their numbers
were very small. Those with a stroke or respiratory illness were more
numerous and they had major physical disability (mean disability scores of
1.44 and 1.32 respectively). In a regression model, the statistically
significant baseline predictors of disability at the final survey were age,
body mass index, use of anti-hypertensive medication, history of stroke,
depression score, peak expiratory flow and physical
disability.Conclusion. The findings confirm reduced or
delayed disability in older citizens requiring little or no
hospitalization. Age, impaired peak expiratory flow and physical disability
at study entry were most strongly predictive of disability, while stroke
and respiratory illness were relatively common causes of severe
disability.Keywords: ageing, disability,
hospitalization, longitudinal study
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