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Manual Dexterity as a Correlate of Dependency in the Elderly
Author(s) -
Ostwald Sharon K.,
Snowdon David A.,
Rysavy S. Del Marie,
Keenan Nora L.,
Kane Robert L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1989.tb07282.x
Subject(s) - medicine , nursing homes , gerontology , predictive value , activities of daily living , independent living , assisted living facility , multivariate analysis , stepwise regression , physical therapy , nursing
Physical and mental correlates of dependent living were determined in 128 Catholic sisters (nuns), aged 75 to 94 years, who had similar social support systems and lifestyles. The primary a priori hypothesis was that poor manual dexterity would correlate strongly with living in the nursing home. Stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that manual dexterity explained 51% of the variance in the sisters' residential living site (ie, nursing home, retirement home, or living in community). The discriminant analysis equation using manual dexterity predicted living site correctly for 63% of the sisters in the nursing home with a specificity of 99%, a positive predictive value of 96% and a negative predictive value of 84%. The addition of age and mental status to the equation improved the prediction only slightly.