PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFICULTIES IN MOBILITY IN A 5-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OF 4 BIRTH COHORTS

The prognostic significance of difficulties in mobility was evaluated using the database of the Helsinki and Vantaa (Finland) ageing studies , in which random persons of four birth cohorts (65, 75, 80 and 85 yea rs, N = 1331) were followed for 5 years. Difficulties in walking 0.5 k m (15, 33, 43 and 62%), walking indoors (1, 10, 16 and 32%), getting u p from bed (4, 15, 19 and 35%) and walking up 10 stairs (14, 28, 41 an d 54%) increased in frequency with advancing age. In the age groups of 65, 75 and 80 years, difficulties in mobility were associated with an impaired five-year survival risk, the age-specific risk ratios of dea th ranging from 1.95 to 5.77. Even minor difficulties in walking outsi de and walking upstairs increased the mortality risk (age-and gender-a djusted hazard ratios being 1.6 and 1.8, respectively), but did not pr edict institutionalization. Difficulties in mobility are important ris k indicators in an elderly population, but lose their prognostic signi ficance in very old age. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.