Physical activity, functional limitations, and disability in older adults

OBJECTIVES: To explore. initially how low levels of physical activity influ ence lower body functional limitations in participants of the Longitudinal Study of Aging. Changes in functional limitations are used subsequently to predict transitions in the activities of daily living/instrumental activiti es of dairy living (ADL/IADL) disability, thus investigating a potential pa thway for how physical activity may delay the onset of ADL/IADL disability and, thus, prolong independent living. DESIGN: Analysis of a complex sample survey of US civilian, noninstitutiona lized population aged 70 years and older in 1984, with repeated interviews in 1986, 1988, and 1990. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Analyses concentrated on 5151 men and women targe ted for interview at all. four LSOA interviews. MEASUREMENTS: Characteristics used in analyses. gender, age, level of physi cal activity, comorbid conditions including the presence of hypertension, d iabetes, arthritis, and atherosclerotic heart disease, levels of functional limitations, and ADL/IADL disability. RESULTS: Transitional models provide evidence that older adults who have va rying levels of disability and who report at least a minimal level of physi cal activity experience a slower progression in functional limitations (OR = .45, P < .001 for severe vs less severe limitations). This row level of p hysical activity, through its influence on changes in functional limitation s, is shown to slow the progression of ADL/IADL disability. CONCLUSIONS: Results from analyses provide supporting evidence that functio nal limitations can mediate the effect that physical activity has on ADL/IA DL disability. These results contribute further to the increasing data that seem to suggest that physical activity can reduce the progression of disab ility in older adults.