The progression of disability among older adults in Mexico

Abstract

Purpose This paper seeks to document the progression of disability in a developing country and to examine gender differences in this process. Methods The data come from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), a nationally representative sample of older adults. An ordinal logistic regression (n = 3,283) is used to measure the progression of disability that considers: 1) no disability, 2) mobility problems, 3) mobility problems with IADLs limitations, 4) mobility problems plus ADLs limitations, 5) combinations of the latter three, and 6) death. Results Approximately 43% of the sample remained in the same level of disability after 2 years. The patterns of progression with two disabilities differ for men and women. Conclusions Our model reflects the importance of separating ADLs and IADLs in the study of disability progression in Mexico. Varying risk profiles and cultural differences might influence the divergent disability paths followed by each gender.

Factors associated with functional loss among community-dwelling Mexican older adults

“…Previous reports using MHAS data from the first three waves (2001 to 2012) showed that 42.8% of participants with no limitations in 2001 remained free from limitations in 2012 37 , 38 . Furthermore, they also remained free of associations of functional decline with age, female gender, and having depression.…”

Sedentary Time and Disability in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Overall, studies have shown that individuals aged 75 and older are most affected by all types of disability and are more likely to be female, frail, minority, and have a chronic conditions [4,7,9,10]. A recent paper by Díaz-Venegas et al [11] also highlights that older adults who have any of the three most common types of disabilities (ADL, IADL and mobility disability) have an increased risk of all cause mortality. Recently increased attention has focused on the potential role of sedentary behavior (SB) in contributing to the development of disability in older adults [12].…”

Cross-national health comparisons using the Rasch model: findings from the 2012 US Health and Retirement Study and the 2012 Mexican Health and Aging Study

“…A major challenge in international health comparisons is incompatible outcome measures across countries. For this reason, previous U.S. and Mexico disability comparison studies relied on estimations of the percentage or likelihood of having difficulties performing daily activities [9, 10]. While this approach provided an indication of disability differences between the populations, these disability comparison approaches have been criticized for using two different measurement scales.…”