title: Distribution and determinants of functioning and disability in aged adults--results from the German KORA-Age study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Today industrialized countries face a burgeoning aged population. Thus, there is increasing attention on the functioning and disabilities of aged adults as potential determinants of autonomy and independent living. However, there are few representative findings on the prevalence and determinants of disability in aged persons in the German population.The objective of our study is to examine the frequency, distribution and determinants of functioning and disability in aged persons and to assess the contribution of diseases to the prevalence of disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data originate from the MONICA/KORA study, a population-based epidemiological cohort. Survivors of the original cohorts who were 65 and older were examined by telephone interview in 2009. Disability was assessed with the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI). Minimal disability was defined as HAQ-DI > 0. Logistic regression was used to adjust for potential confounders and additive regression to estimate the contribution of diseases to disability prevalence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analyzed a total of 4117 persons (51.2% female) with a mean age of 73.6 years (SD = 6.1). Minimal disability was present in 44.7% of all participants. Adjusted for age and diseases, disability was positively associated with female sex, BMI, low income, marital status, physical inactivity and poor nutritional status, but not with smoking and education. Problems with joint functions and eye diseases contributed most to disability prevalence in all age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, this study could show that there are vulnerable subgroups of aged adults who should receive increased attention, specifically women, those with low income, those over 80, and persons with joint or eye diseases. Physical activity, obesity and malnutrition were identified as modifiable factors for future targeted interventions.
authors: Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany. ralf.strobl@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Strobl
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Müller
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Emeny
authors: Annette
authors: A
authors: Peters
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Grill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance