OLDER ADULTS PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR HEALTH AND FUNCTIONING IN RELATION TO SLEEP DISTURBANCE, FALLING, AND URINARY-INCONTINENCE

OBJECTIVE: To investigate variation in older adults' perceived health and functioning that is associated with self-reported sleep disturbanc e, falling, and urinary incontinence, controlling for self-reported de pression, ambulation difficulty, number of chronic conditions, and sub jects' sociodemographic characteristics. DESIGN: Multicenter prospecti ve study (FICSIT). SETTING: Persons age 70 and older living in the com munity evaluated at baseline. PARTICIPANTS: 239 women, 113 men; mean a ge = 77. MEASUREMENTS: Sleep disturbance score based on EPESE question s, recent falls history (Y/N), incontinent episodes (Y/N), CES-D score , SIP Ambulation score, and 4 MOS SF-36 scale scores. RESULTS: Women w ere significantly more likely than men to report multiple conditions ( sleep disturbance, falling, incontinence) and to report lower levels o f functioning as measured by 3 of 4 SF-36 scales. In regression analys es, sleep disturbance and urinary incontinence were significant predic tors of perceived limitation in usual role activities because of physi cal health problems. Depression and ambulation measures significantly predicted scores on all 4 SF-36 scales. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis sugg ests that it is important to address depressive symptomatology and amb ulation difficulty-which in turn are related to sleep disturbance, fal ling, and urinary incontinence-in efforts to enhance older adults' per ceived health and functioning.