MUSCULOSKELETAL DISABILITY AMONG ELDERLY PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and determinants of disability among elderly people living in the community. Design: A cross-section al postal questionnaire survey. Setting: Northern Sydney Area Health S ervice. Participants: 1527 residents (622 men and 905 women) aged 65 y ears and over. Main outcome measures: Self-reported chronic illnesses, injuries or conditions; difficulties with activities of daily living assessed by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ); and home modifi cation and use of functional aids. Results: ''Arthritis or rheumatism' ' was the leading long term condition, reported by 59.5%, 55.8% and 59 .7% of women and 40.5%, 47.0% and 43.6% of men in the three age groups (65-74, 75-84 and 85 years and over), respectively. The back, neck an d knees were the most common sites of pain and stiffness. Of the respo ndents, 23.4% of women and 24.3% of men reported regularly taking nons teroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Impaired performance of activities o f daily living increased with age, with 53.9%, 70.7% and 89.6% of wome n and 37.6%, 63.6% and 73.2% of men in the respective age groups repor ting at least some difficulty (HAQ score > 0). Multivariate analysis f ound self-reported poor general health, loss of a limb, arthritis or r heumatism, other long term conditions restricting physical activity, i mpaired vision, female sex, and age to be significant predictors of di sability as measured by HAQ scores. Only 13.9% of women and 9.4% of me n had made changes to their home. Functional aids were used by 27.7%, 37.3% and 65.9% of women and 15.6%, 33.4% and 59.1% of men in the resp ective age groups. Conclusion: Arthritis and rheumatism were the most prevalent chronic conditions among elderly people in the community, an d were significantly associated with difficulty with performing activi ties of daily living, after controlling for effects of age, sex and ot her chronic conditions.