Objective physical measures and their association with subjective functional limitations in a representative study population of older Thais

Abstract

Background In this study, we analyzed elderly people in Thailand to identify the validity of suggested cutoff points of physical measures, handgrip strength, usual walking speed, and a composite score of both measures to predict functional limitations. Moreover, we examined whether these physical performance measures are accurate indicators of the investigated health outcomes. Methods Using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis, we investigated a sample of 8272 respondents aged 60 to 79 years. All data were based on the 2009 National Health Examination Survey (NHES IV) of Thailand. Results For males aged 60 to 69 years, handgrip strength was used as an indicator of functional limitations. The cutoff point for disabilities in the activities of daily living (ADLs) was 29.5 kg, while in other limitations it ranged from 28.7 to 31.3 kg. In contrast, usual walking speed was able to indicate ADL disabilities at 0.7 m per second (m/s). As one might expect, the cutoff points for males aged 70 to 79 years were lower than for males in the 60 to 69 age group. For females, handgrip strength was able to indicate ADL disabilities at 16.5 kg for both the 60 to 69, and 70 to 79 age groups. Likewise, walking speed was indicative of ADL disabilities at 0.6 m/s for both age groups. Interestingly, the composite measure increases the ability to detect ADL disabilities in the younger group but not in the older group. The area under the curve (AUC) of cutoffs measuring the detection power of a diagnostic test was varied, ranging from 0.535 to 0.7386. Conclusions The cutoff points of three measures varied according to sex and type of functional limitations. Our findings also showed that physical performance measures were useful for identifying people with an increased risk of functional limitations, particularly for ADL disabilities. However, although the AUC of the cutoffs of other functional limitations were relatively low, they should be considered with caution. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12877-019-1093-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The prevalence of functional disability and its impact on older adults in the ASEAN region: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Three studies also reported the prevalence of IADL disability by gender, with a higher prevalence reported among females (65.4%) compared to males (36.9%, p<0.01). (14,27,33) The prevalence of IADL disability was relatively similar among community dwelling participants (49.6%) and older adults recruited from outpatient/primary care setting (55.5%). As only one study recruited institutionalised older adults and reported data on IADL, this information was not pooled in our analysis.…”

“…The prevalence of cognitive impairment was reported to be higher for female than male participants regardless of age group (60-69 years or 70-79 years) (33) and in frail individuals compared to robust individuals. ( 30)…”

“…Five studies also reported prevalence by gender, which showed that the prevalence of ADL disability was 2.3 times higher in females than males (12.0% versus 5.2%; p<0.01). (14,18,23,27,33)…”

Impact of Affect Balance on Cognitive and Physical Function in Adults With and Without Fibromyalgia

“…Consistent with earlier studies (Schwert et al, 2017;Srisurapanont et al, 2017), we found no significant correlations between objective cognitive measures and perceived forgetfulness (r −.08 to −.18). Objective measures for physical performance showed strong associations with perceived physical function (rs −0.49 to 0.46, ps < 0.001), while other studies have reported moderate relationships (Ostir et al, 2001;Prasitsiriphon & Weber, 2019).…”

“…Alternatively, moderate associations have been found between objective measures of physical health and self-reported health (Ostir et al, 2001;Prasitsiriphon & Weber, 2019). Further, physical performance was related to perceptions about competency regarding activities of daily living (ADLs; Cress et al, 1995).…”