The Impact of Psychological Distress on Incident Functional Disability in Elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study

Abstract

Background: Although psychological distress is known to be a risk factor for death, there are relatively few data on the impact of psychological distress on incident functional disability in older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of psychological distress on incident functional disability in older adults. Methods: We conducted a cohort study of 12,365 disability-free individuals aged ≥65 years who live in Ohsaki City, Japan. In 2006, the level of psychological distress was assessed using the K6 (range: 0–24 points). Data on 10-year functional disability were retrieved from the public Long-term Care Insurance database. The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and population attributable fractions (PAFs) according to the K6 groups (<5, 5–9, 10–12, and ≥13 points) were estimated. Results: Among 94,636 person-years, incident functional disability occurred in 4533 persons (36.7%). Significantly higher risk was observed in higher K6 score groups. The multiple-adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of incident functional disability were 1.14 (1.06–1.22) for 5–9 points, 1.28 (1.15–1.43) for 10–12 points, and 1.62 (1.44–1.84) for ≥13 points, in comparison with <5 points (p-trend < 0.001). The PAFs in each of the K6 score groups were 3.0% for 5–9 points, 1.7% for 10–12 points, and 2.6% for ≥13 points. Conclusions: Even when mild to moderate, psychological distress had a considerable impact on incident functional disability in this cohort.

Psychological Distress and Social Functioning in Elderly Spanish People: A Gender Analysis

“…The results of this work converge and extend the existing literature regarding the risk factor that psychological distress entails for the quality of life of the elderly [23,24,25,26]; moreover, the results of this work extend the knowledge and document that psychological distress also involves an important threat to the social functioning of old people.…”

“…Psychological distress has been considered a key component in the psychosocial functioning of older people [23]; in the case of the elderly, it may occur as a consequence of poorer cognitive functioning [24]. Actually, research has reported that psychological distress was associated with and increased the risk of functional disability in the elderly [25,26].…”

Relationship between Community or Home Gardening and Health of the Elderly: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey in Japan

“…Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha for the four items was 0.850, and there was no problem in internal reliability. In the previous studies using K6, less than 12 points was regarded as a cutoff point [22,23]. Since only four items were used this time, participants were classified into two groups according to their K6 score of less than 9 points.…”

Factors Influencing Long-Term Care Service Needs among the Elderly Based on the Latest Anderson Model: A Case Study from the Middle and Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River

“…In the latest version of Anderson model, three aspects were included in the psychosocial factors: (1) social patterns; (2) attitudes and awareness about the performance of LTC services; and (3) the ability of people to perceive influences on their long-term care choices [21]. Referring to some earlier studies on psychosocial factors in LTC service needs research, intergenerational relationships, unmet needs for nursing services, self-image evaluation (Table 1) corresponding to social patterns, attitudes, and knowledge were chosen as the psychosocial factors of the elderly [22]. [35] The traditional image of the elderly is now being questioned…”