A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF FACTORS RELATED TO CARRYING OUT PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING (PADL) AMONG 75-YEAR-OLD MEN AND WOMEN IN 2 NORDIC LOCALITIES

The aim of this cross-sectional and cross-national study was to descri be and compare the ability to carry out physical activities of daily l iving (PADL) and examine factors that might explain variation in this ability in two Nordic populations. Seven hundred and six men and women aged 75 from two populations (Glostrup, Denmark, and Jyvaskyla, Finla nd) were interviewed and given a laboratory examination in 1989-90. Th e ability to carry out the PADL activities was studied by interview. T ests were given to determine depressive symptoms, cognitive capacity, and selected physical and sensory performance domains. Four different regression models (men and women in Jyvaskyla and Glostrup) were used to analyze a number of variables describing physical and psychological health and performance related to the PADL. Knee extension strength a nd stair mounting height in three models (men and women in Jyvaskyla a nd women in Glostrup), and walking speed in one model (men in Glostrup ) emerged as explanatory factors on the basis of the physical performa nce tests done. Sight, except in the women in Glostrup, hearing in the men in Jyvaskyla, and balance in the women in Glostrup also explained PADL functioning. In addition, symptoms of depression in the men in G lostrup, and symptoms of illness, except in the men in Jyvaskyla, and cognitive capacity in the men in Jyvaskyla emerged as explanatory fact ors in the regression models. There were, however, no major difference s in the determinants of PADL functioning in the two Nordic population s of elderly people. Physical, psychological and sensory tests provide useful information, complementary to self-reports regarding declining PADL functional capacity. (C) 1997, Editrice Kurtis.