Association between Stress-Coping Strategy and Functional Disability in the General Older Adult Population: The Takashima Study

Background: Both physical and psychological factors have been associated with functional disability. However, the associations between stress-coping strategies and future functional disability remain unclear. Methods: We analyzed 2,924 participants who did not have incidence of functional disability or death within the first 3 years of the baseline survey and were aged 65 years or more at the end of follow-up. Stress-coping strategies were assessed via a self-administered questionnaire (emotional expression, emotional support seeking, positive thought, problem-solving, and disengagement) in a baseline survey from 2006 to 2014. Levels of coping strategies were classified as low, middle, and high based of frequency. Functional disability decline was followed up using the long-term-care insurance program until November 1, 2019. Functional disability decline was defined as a new long-term-care insurance program certification. Cox proportional hazards model with competing risk analysis for death was used to evaluate associations between coping strategy levels and functional disability. Results: During the follow-up period, we observed 341 cases of functional disability and 73 deaths without previous incidence of functional disability. A significant inverse association between “positive thought” and “problem-solving” and future functional disability was observed. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for functional disability were 0.68 (0.51–0.92) for high levels of “positive thought” and 0.73 (0.55–0.95) for high levels of “problem-solving,” compared with low levels of the coping strategies. The inverse association was stronger in men. Conclusions: Some subcomponents of stress-coping strategies might be associated with future incidence of functional disability among older adults.