| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This study examined differences in predictors relevant to lifestyle characteristics and medical examination findings between disability and mortality in an elderly population. Data derived from a longitudinal study of aging for persons aged 65 and older who lived in Ohtsuki, Kochi prefecture and who had no physical disability at baseline(N=1,054). Levels of physical disability were assessed by self-reports on six items of physical activities of daily living (eating, toileting, bathing, dressing, grooming, and walking) at both the baseline and the follow-up time points. Lifestyle characteristics examined at the baseline questionnaire survey included five health practices (smoking, drinking, sleeping hours, bowel habit, and physical activity) and availability of five social network elements (living arrangements, contact with children, contact with close relatives, contact with close friends, and attendance at group organizations). Medical examination findings were obtained for 644 person
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s who had the basic health examination under the Health Services for the Elderly Act at baseline. Associations of individual risk factors with a polychotomous outcome (physically independent vs physically dependent vs dead) were examined by fitting a polytomous logistic regression. Bowel habit assessed in the questionnaire survey was associated with disability only : age and gender adjusted odds ratios for subjects with irregular bowel habits relative to those with regular habits were 1.8 (95 % confidence interval : 1.0-3.2) for disability and 1.3 (95 % confidence interval : 0.8-2.1) for mortality.
For the medical examination findings, body mass index was related to disability only : age and gender adjusted odds ratios for subjects with body mass index below or over the optimum range relative to those in the optimum range was 3.1 (95 % confidence interval : 1.3-7.5) for disability and 1.1 (95 % confidence interval : 0.7-1.9) for mortality. Factors associated with disability were not necessarily predictors of mortality. They should be differentiated from each other. Less
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