A comparative study of factors related to carrying out physical activities of daily living (PADL) among 75-year-old-men and women in two Nordic localities

Are IADLs comparable across countries? Sociodemographic associates of harmonized IADL measures

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Independence in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) is determined not only by physical ability but also by the environmental and cultural surroundings of the individual. The present study describes the harmonization of data on IADL functioning of the Comparison of Longitudinal European Studies on Aging (CLESA) Project. The focus of this report is to examine the comparability of IADLs across countries and to study the association of IADLs with age, gender and socioeconomic status, and the scalability of the measure.

METHODS

The study base includes data from five European countries (Finland, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden) and Israel, for older people aged 65-89 living both in the community and in institutions, for a total of 11,557 subjects. In this report, only community-dwelling respondents were included (N=8420). The common IADL items in all six countries were: preparing meals, shopping, and doing housework. The analyses include how these items are distributed by age group and gender, and the associations between independence in these items and socioeconomic status (SES) with logistic regression modeling. The scale properties of these three items are also examined.

RESULTS

Independence in IADLs decreases steadily with age in all countries. Associations with gender and SES follow largely similar patterns across countries. The reliability of the 3-item scale is satisfactory in most countries, and Cronbach's alpha-coefficient for the complete CLESA sample was 0.75.

CONCLUSIONS

The associations between sociodemographic variables and independence in preparing meals, shopping, and doing housework are similar across countries. Results suggest that the predictors of IADLs in different countries are comparable.

Tiredness in daily activities among nondisabled old people as determinant of onset of disability

The purpose of this article was to examine whether self-reported tiredness in daily activities at age 75 is an independent determinant of onset of disability at 5-year follow-up. The investigation is based on two subgroups of nondisabled participants of 75 year olds who survived and participated in the follow-up study 5 years later (n = 510 and 429). Persons who felt tired in their daily activities had a larger risk of becoming disabled in mobility (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.4-7.6) and in daily activities (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.0-4.2) compared to persons without tiredness. In addition, persons with poor cognitive function, little diversity in social relations and no physical activity had an independent risk of onset of disability. The results indicate that it is important to take it seriously when older people complain about tiredness in daily activities, as these people are at higher risk of becoming disabled than others.

Changes in health, functional performance and activity predict changes in self-rated health: a 10-year follow-up study in older people

The purpose was to examine changes in self-rated health (SRH) in older people and associations between these changes and various self-reported and objectively measured indicators of health status, functional performance and activity at three time-points 5 years apart. Further, our aim was to examine whether SRH takes the form of a continuum. The study group comprised all the baseline 75-year-old inhabitants of the City of Jyväskylä, Finland (N=382). Four groups were formed according to change/stability in SRH: 'good-good', 'good-bad', 'bad-good' and 'bad-bad'. Cross-tabulation and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine the cross-sectional differences, and GLM Repeated Measures to analyze the differences in changes in the determinants of SRH over time. Stability was more common than change in SRH, although in most participants there was a decline in most of the determinants of SRH. A systematic relation was found between the SRH groups and the indicators of health status, functional performance and physical and social activity, especially over the first 5-year period. A substantial decrease in these indicators was associated with a decline in SRH. Among older people change and stability in SRH over time systematically reflect health status, functional performance, and physical and social activity. The relatively high stability found in SRH indicates that with increasing age older people adapt to their worsening health conditions. SRH seems to form a continuum when a wide range of self-reported and objectively measured indicators on physical, psychological and social components of health are taken into account.

A path analysis model of self-rated health among older people

The aim of this study was to examine the structure of self-rated health among 75-year-old men and women. The study was part of the Evergreen project, comprising all the 75-year-old residents (N = 382) of Jyväskylä, in central Finland, in 1989. The data were collected by interviews, questionnaires and laboratory examinations, focusing on different domains of health and functional capacity. Of the target group, 91.6% (119 men and 231 women) participated in the interview, and 77.2% (104 men and 191 women) took part in the clinical and laboratory examinations. Path analysis models (LISREL 8) were used to examine the structure of self-rated health. About half the participants self-rated their health as good or unusually good. In both genders, a smaller number of difficulties in performing the physical activities of daily living (PADL), fewer chronic diseases, and better maximal working capacity were associated with better self-rated health. In addition, among the women a smaller number of depressive symptoms, and among the men better cognitive capacity had a positive effect on self-rated health. Physical activity and muscle strength had a positive indirect effect on self-rated health among both men and women. The explanatory power of the path analysis model for self-rated health was 44% for the men, and 42% for the women. The ability to perform the physical activities of daily living independently is an important associate of good self-rated health among older people. The path analysis models suggest that the factors underlying the physical activities of daily living also directly modify self-ratings of health among the elderly. The models of self-rated health for the men and the women were not exactly alike.