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Course and prognostic factors of disability in community‐dwelling older people with mild disability: The Rotterdam Study
Author(s) -
Taş Ümit,
Verhagen Arianne P,
BiermaZeinstra Sita MA,
Hofman Albert,
Pols Huib AP,
Koes Bart W
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2011.00524.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gerontology , cohort , cohort study , rotterdam study , prospective cohort study , population , environmental health
Aim: To study the prognosis of disability of community‐dwelling older people with mild disability at baseline. Methods: We used data from the Rotterdam Study: a community‐based prospective cohort study of community‐dwelling older people. We evaluated sociodemographic factors, lifestyle variables, health conditions and disability status at baseline and follow‐up after 6 years. Disability was defined as a score on the Health Assessment Questionnaire. Results: At baseline the population consisted of 1166 older people with mild disability with a mean age of 69.7 (55–93) years. At follow‐up 18% of the study population recovered from mild disability, 20% stayed mildly disabled, 31% became severely disabled, while 32% were deceased. At follow‐up relatively more men died while more women had a worsened disability. Age and income were predictors of disability decrease. Alcohol use seemed to be significantly protective against death. Conclusion: Just a few prognostic factors appeared to be related to disability 6 years later.