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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Rachel CooperORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.Background: We aimed to identify the hierarchy of rates of decline in 16 physical functioning measures in U.S. and English samples, using a systematic and integrative coordinated data analysis approach. Methods: The U.S. sample consisted of 13,612 Health and Retirement Study participants, and the English sample consisted of 5,301 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing participants. Functional loss was ascertained using self-reported difficulties performing 6 activities of daily living and 10 mobility tasks. The variables were standardized, rates of decline were computed, and mean rates of decline were ranked. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to compare rates of decline between studies. Results: In both studies, the rates of decline followed a similar pattern; difficulty with eating was the activity that showed the slowest decline and climbing several flights of stairs and stooping, kneeling, or crouching the fastest declines. There were statistical differences in the speed of decline in all 16 measures between countries. American women had steeper declines in 10 of the measures than English women. Similar differences were found between American and English men. Conclusions: Reporting difficulties climbing several flights of stairs without resting, and stooping, kneeling, or crouching are the first indicators of functional loss reported in both populations.
Author(s): Bendayan R, Cooper R, Wloch EG, Hofer SM, Piccinin AM, Muniz-Terrera G
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
Year: 2017
Volume: 72
Issue: 8
Pages: 1117-1122
Print publication date: 01/08/2017
Online publication date: 17/10/2016
Acceptance date: 25/09/2016
Date deposited: 20/01/2022
ISSN (print): 1079-5006
ISSN (electronic): 1758-535X
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glw209
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glw209
PubMed id: 27753610
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