Incidence of activities of daily living disability and related factors in community-dwelling older adults in China / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To analyze the decline of activities of daily living (ADL) ability and influencing factors over a period of 2 years in community-dwelling older adults in China.@*Methods@#The study subjects were from the project of Prevention and Intervention on Neurodegenerative Disease for Elderly in China of 2015-2017 to select the samples. In 2015, a total of 23 803 community- dwelling residents adults, aged ≥60 years old, came from both urban and rural areas, were selected through a stratified multi-stage cluster sampling in 6 provinces and joint baseline survey. The follow-up was conducted in 2017 to collect the related information using the same questionnaires and examinations. Finally, 18 785 elderly people were included in this analysis after excluding those who were died, failed to follow up, had incomplete data cases or defined as ADL disability at baseline survey. The post-stratification weight on the sample data was done by using the 6th national population census data as the standard, the rates of ADL/basic activities of daily living (BADL)/instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disabilities over 2 years were calculated and compared among the elderly with different characteristics. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze the factors associated with BADL/IADL disabilities.@*Results@#During the 2-year follow-up, ADL disability developed in 1 959 participants with a rate of 12.0% (1.6% for BADL disability and 10.4% for IADL disability only). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for BADL disability included increased age, obesity, comorbidity and cognitive impairment. The risk factors for only IADL disability included increased age, being female, lower weight and cognitive impairment. Compared with illiterates, the educated had lower risk for only IADL disability. Compared with those with normal weight, overweight and obese old people had lower risk for only IADL disabilities.@*Conclusion@#Increased age and cognitive impairment were associated with the increased risk for BADL and IADL disabilities. Older people with comorbidities had higher risk for BADL disability. Obesity increased the risk of BADL disability, but decreased the risk for IADL disability in older people. Women had a higher risk for IADL disability compared with men. Being educated was associated with lower risk of IADL disability.