title: Disease, impairment, disability and social handicap: a community based study of people aged 70 years and over.
abstract: The aim of this research was to investigate the prevalence of disability in a total population-based sample aged 70 years and over, the social handicap resulting from the disability and the diseases and impairments contributing to disability in the most disabled subjects. From the initial sample of 856 subjects, 782 (91.4%) participated. Disability in the tasks examined varied from 1.3% of subjects unable to feed themselves to 24.4% unable to carry out housework. In the 74 most disabled subjects comorbidity was common. The major clinical disorders that contributed to impairment and disability were heart failure, osteoarthritis, stroke and dementia. Those who were disabled were considerably more likely to be handicapped than those not disabled (odds ratio 6.65, 95% confidence interval 4.73-9.36). When social support was considered, the estimated risk of handicap associated with disability ranged from 3.19 (95% CI 1.92-5.30) for the subset of subjects who had a spouse, to 52.00 (95% CI 4.03-670.6) for subjects without emotional support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Busby
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lum
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Langlois
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004194:Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D012648:Self Care