Short report. Association of individual activities of daily living with self-rated health in older people

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the associations of 18 activities of daily living with self-rated health in older people. Design and setting: cross-sectional study of a representative sample of 781 people aged 65 or over (response rate: 89.9%). Methods: self-rated health was assessed by the question: ''Overall, how would you rate your current health status-very good, good, fair, poor or very poor?'' We used the Barthel index and Lawton and Brody's index for basic and instrumental activities of daily living, respectively. We classified subjects into three groups according to their Barthel index score: level 1 (score 100), level 2 (score 91-99) and level 3 (score 0-90). Logistic regression was used to identify associations between each activity and self-rated health. Results: use of stairs [odds ratio (OR) = 4.28, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 2.82-6.52], ambulation (OR = 3.67, 95% CI: 2.39-5.64) and chair/bed transfer (OR = 3.00, 95% CI: 1.68-5.36) were the basic activities of daily living best associated with self-rated health. Among instrumental activities of daily living, ability to handle finances (OR = 2.20), laundry (OR = 2.15) and transport (OR = 2.12) were associated with self-rated health. On the Barthel index, only transport was associated with self-rated health in subjects at levels 1 (OR = 2.55) and 2 (OR = 2.72). For subjects with poor functional status (level 3), no instrumental activities of daily living were related to self-rated health. Conclusion: in terms of self-rated health, the most important activities of daily living were those involving mobility. The effect of each instrumental activity of daily living on self-rated health depends on the level of functional capacity in basic activities of daily living.

A pilot study on perceived stress and PTSD symptomatology in relation to four dimensions of older women's physical health

“…This corroborates existing empirical evidence demonstrating that higher age is related to worse health reports and limited ability to fill roles (e.g., Gama et al, 2000; Hoeymans, Feskens, Kromhout, & van den Bos, 1997; Rohrer, Merry, Rohland, Rasmussen, & Wilshusen, 2008). It should be kept in mind that age, income, and physical health are closely interrelated in the literature, with economic status often decreasing with more advanced age and common concurrent declines in physical health.…”

Postoperative Functional Outcomes in Older Adults

“…Some studies use discharge to a non-home institution and length of stay in a nursing home or rehabilitation facility as surrogate markers for postoperative functional decline and postoperative functional recovery, respectively. Of all the activities of daily living, those most associated with mobility – use of stairs, ambulation, and transferring – may be most important to the older adult in terms of their health status [23]. …”

Estimation of Local Disability Schedules: an Evaluation of Relational Models

“…This paper evaluates the use of these relational models for local areas testing the underlying assumption that the relationship between LLTI and disability schedules remains constant between areas. Research suggests this assumption may well be plausible; a range of different types activity limitation (use of stairs, bathing self, shopping, use of stairs, chair/bed transfers) are known to be associated with self‐assessed health (Valderrama et al ., ).…”