Longitudinal Predictors of Functional Impairment in Older Adults in Europe – Evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

TY - JOUR

T1 - Longitudinal Predictors of Functional Impairment in Older Adults in Europe – Evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

AU - Hajek, André

AU - König, Hans-Helmut

PY - 2016/1/19

Y1 - 2016/1/19

N2 - Objective: To examine time-dependent predictors of functional impairment in olderadults in Europe longitudinally.Methods: Data were derived from the Survey of Health Ageing, and Retirement inEurope (2004-2013). Functional impairment was assessed by using activities of dailyliving (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) indices. Fixed effectsregressions were used to estimate the effects of sociodemographic factors (age,marital status, living situation, and income deciles (median split)), lifestyle factors(smoking status and alcohol consumption per week), depression, cognitive functionand chronic diseases on the outcome variables.Results: Longitudinal regressions revealed that functional impairment increasedsignificantly with age, the occurrence of depression, cognitive impairment, the numberof chronic conditions, and less than daily alcohol consumption in the total sample andin both sexes. Moreover, the onset of smoking and living without a spouse/partner inhousehold increased functional impairment in the total sample. The effect ofdepression on functional impairment was significantly more pronounced in men.Conclusion: Our findings highlight the relevance of changes in age, depression,cognitive function, smoking and chronic diseases for functional impairment. Sinceparticularly depression and smoking may be avoidable, developing strategies toprevent depression or stop smoking might be useful approaches to postpone functionalimpairment in older adults.

AB - Objective: To examine time-dependent predictors of functional impairment in olderadults in Europe longitudinally.Methods: Data were derived from the Survey of Health Ageing, and Retirement inEurope (2004-2013). Functional impairment was assessed by using activities of dailyliving (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) indices. Fixed effectsregressions were used to estimate the effects of sociodemographic factors (age,marital status, living situation, and income deciles (median split)), lifestyle factors(smoking status and alcohol consumption per week), depression, cognitive functionand chronic diseases on the outcome variables.Results: Longitudinal regressions revealed that functional impairment increasedsignificantly with age, the occurrence of depression, cognitive impairment, the numberof chronic conditions, and less than daily alcohol consumption in the total sample andin both sexes. Moreover, the onset of smoking and living without a spouse/partner inhousehold increased functional impairment in the total sample. The effect ofdepression on functional impairment was significantly more pronounced in men.Conclusion: Our findings highlight the relevance of changes in age, depression,cognitive function, smoking and chronic diseases for functional impairment. Sinceparticularly depression and smoking may be avoidable, developing strategies toprevent depression or stop smoking might be useful approaches to postpone functionalimpairment in older adults.

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0146967

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0146967

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

VL - 11

SP - e0146967

JO - PLOS ONE

JF - PLOS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 1

ER -