TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental components of mobility disability in community-living older persons
AU - Shumway-Cook, Anne
AU - Patla, Aftab
AU - Stewart, Anita
AU - Ferrucci, Luigi
AU - Ciol, Marcia A.
AU - Guralnik, Jack M.
PY - 2003/3/1
Y1 - 2003/3/1
N2 - OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between characteristics of the physical environment and mobility disability in community-living older persons. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study conducted on three groups of community-dwelling older adults. SETTING: Community-dwelling older people in Seattle, Washington, and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-four older adults (≥70) were recruited from two geographic sites and grouped according to level of physical function (elite, physically able, physically disabled). MEASUREMENT: Subjects reported on frequency of encounter versus avoidance of 24 features of the physical environment, grouped into eight dimensions, using a fivepoint ordinal scale (never, rarely, sometimes, often, always). Never and rarely responses were combined and coded as not encountered or not avoided, whereas the sometimes, often or always responses were combined and coded as encountered or avoided. RESULTS: Disabled older adults reported fewer encounters with and concomitantly greater avoidance of physical challenges to mobility than nondisabled older adults. However, both encounter and avoidance varied by environmental dimension. CONCLUSION: Results support the hypothesis that mobility disability results from an interaction of individual and environmental factors. Mobility disability is associated with avoidance of some, but not all, physically challenging features within the environment, suggesting that some environmental features may disable community mobility more than others.
AB - OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between characteristics of the physical environment and mobility disability in community-living older persons. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study conducted on three groups of community-dwelling older adults. SETTING: Community-dwelling older people in Seattle, Washington, and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-four older adults (≥70) were recruited from two geographic sites and grouped according to level of physical function (elite, physically able, physically disabled). MEASUREMENT: Subjects reported on frequency of encounter versus avoidance of 24 features of the physical environment, grouped into eight dimensions, using a fivepoint ordinal scale (never, rarely, sometimes, often, always). Never and rarely responses were combined and coded as not encountered or not avoided, whereas the sometimes, often or always responses were combined and coded as encountered or avoided. RESULTS: Disabled older adults reported fewer encounters with and concomitantly greater avoidance of physical challenges to mobility than nondisabled older adults. However, both encounter and avoidance varied by environmental dimension. CONCLUSION: Results support the hypothesis that mobility disability results from an interaction of individual and environmental factors. Mobility disability is associated with avoidance of some, but not all, physically challenging features within the environment, suggesting that some environmental features may disable community mobility more than others.
KW - Aging
KW - Disability
KW - Environment
KW - Mobility
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0345268783&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0345268783&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2003.51114.x
DO - 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2003.51114.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 12588584
AN - SCOPUS:0345268783
SN - 0002-8614
VL - 51
SP - 393
EP - 398
JO - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
JF - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
IS - 3
ER -