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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Characterization of older adults who attribute functional decrements to "old age" | | Author(s) | Jeff D Williamson, Linda P Fried |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 44, no 12, December 1996 |
| Pages | pp 1429-1434 |
| Keywords | Mobility ; Self care capacity ; Biological ageing ; Attitude ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Understanding the contributors to physical disability in older adults is an important part of the US national health objective of expanding disability-free life by the year 2000. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency with which older adults attribute their difficulty performing a number of common daily tasks to "old age" and to identify specific conditions and diseases associated with this attribution. The study also sought to determine the characteristics that might differentiate persons able to attribute their disability to specific conditions from those who cite old age as the aetiology of their disability. Findings showed that of the 230 participants, 20% cited "old age" as the cause of their disability in two or more tasks. Significantly higher levels of arthritis, heart disease, and hearing loss were reported in persons attributing their disability to "old age" than in those not reporting "old age" as the cause of their disability. The findings suggest that a significant proportion of functional decline attributed to ageing in older adults may be associated with specific conditions. (AKM). |
| Accession Number | CPA-970812229 A |
| Classmark | C4: CA: BH: DP: 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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