<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>There are no
reports on the
association between perinatal characteristics and comprehensive physical function in
Chinese elderly people. In this study, we traced 875 subjects
who were born at the
Peking Union Medical College
Hospital (PUMCH) of
China from 1921 to 1941. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of perinatal characteristics on
activities of daily living (
ADL) function in the geriatric period.</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>
Birth data of 875 subjects were obtained from obstetric
birth records of PUMCH. Adulthood
data collection was conducted in the
outpatient clinics of PUMCH. During the
clinic visits, trained
research staff administered
physical examinations,
activities of daily living scale and a demographic
questionnaire. ADLs of all subjects were assessed with the
activities of daily living scale.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 101 subjects whose
ADL function was limited and the rate of
ADL limitation was 11.5%. Binary
logistic regression analyses results showed that the main influencing factors of
ADL were
age, maternal age at
birth,
occupation, daily
exercise and
chronic disease. Subjects whose
maternal age at their
birth exceeded 35 years were at 2.202 times (1.188 - 4.083) greater
risk of
ADL limitation when we applied multivariate
logistic regression models.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This study validated the relationship between perinatal characteristics and
ADL in the geriatric period. An older
maternal age at
birth could predict a higher
ADL limitation rate in the geriatric period.</p>