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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Maintaining mobility in late life
— II: Smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and body mass index | | Author(s) | Andrea Z LaCroix, Jack M Guralnik, Lisa F Berkman |
| Journal title | American Journal of Epidemiology, vol 137, no 8, 1993 |
| Pages | pp 858-869 |
| Keywords | Mobility ; Tobacco smoking ; Alcoholism ; Keeping fit ; Weight ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | While positive health behaviours have been shown to extend life, their association with extending life has not been well investigated. In this report, the health behaviours of 6918 men and women aged 65 and over with intact mobility, and living in East Boston, MA, Iowa and Washington Counties, IA, and New Haven, CT were investigated in relation to maintaining mobility during 4 years of follow-up. Intact mobility, defined as ability to climb up and down stairs and walk half a mile, was determined annually by interview, and study subjects were classified into one of three categories at the end of the study: maintained mobility (55.1%); lost mobility (36.2); or died without evidence of having lost mobility prior to death (8.7%). After adjustment for age and of all health behaviours, risk of losing mobility was associated with current smoking, not consuming alcohol compared with small-to-moderate amounts of alcohol consumption, high (>80th percentile) compared with moderate (21st-80th percentiles) body mass index (BMI), and low physical activity levels in both men and women. These findings suggest that positive health behaviours can not only extend longevity, but also reduce the risk of losing mobility and independence in later life. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-981214003 A |
| Classmark | C4: ETT: ETA: CE: 4X6: 3J: 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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