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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Older adults and functional decline
— a cross-cultural comparison | | Author(s) | Susan M McCurry, Laura E Gibbons, Gail E Bond |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 14, no 2, June 2002 |
| Pages | pp 161-180 |
| Keywords | Mental health [elderly] ; Mental ageing ; Social characteristics [elderly] ; Health [elderly] ; Ethnic groups ; Japan ; White people ; Cross cultural surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Further support is provided for the view that healthy lifestyle practices and prevention of chronic disease are important for older people in maintaining functional independence. This study was an analysis of data from two studies of ageing and dementia in King County, Washington. The sample included 1,083 Japanese-Americans and 1,011 white cognitively intact community-dwelling people aged 65+ with no functional limitations at baseline. In a 4-year follow-up, 70% of subjects reported no increase in functional limitation; fewer than 5% of subjects had declined in five or more activities. Risk factors associated with functional decline included increased age, female gender, medical comorbidity (particularly cerebrovascular disease, arthritis and hypertension), increased body mass index (BMI). poorer self-perceived health, smoking, depression and diabetes. The study notes that Japanese-speaking subjects were less likely to decline over time, although this could have been due to reporting bias. The findings have important implications for the design and interpretation of longitudinal studies of older people, particularly those on the effects of ethnicity on health and ageing. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-021118207 A |
| Classmark | D: D6: F: CC: TK: 7DT: TKA: 3KA: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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