title: Manual dexterity as a correlate of dependency in the elderly.
abstract: Physical and mental correlates of dependent living were determined in 128 Catholic sisters (nuns), aged 75 to 94 years, who had similar social support systems and lifestyles. The primary a priori hypothesis was that poor manual dexterity would correlate strongly with living in the nursing home. Stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that manual dexterity explained 51% of the variance in the sisters' residential living site (ie, nursing home, retirement home, or living in community). The discriminant analysis equation using manual dexterity predicted living site correctly for 63% of the sisters in the nursing home with a specificity of 99%, a positive predictive value of 96% and negative predictive value of 84%. The addition of age and mental status to the equation improved the prediction only slightly.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Ostwald
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Snowdon
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Rysavy
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Kane
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008603:Mental Health; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012944:Social Support; D014785:Vision, Ocular