title: The Global Activity Limitation Index mainly measured functional disability, whereas self-rated health measured physical morbidity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As the Global Activity Limitation Index (GALI) has only recently been created and it is not yet known whether it adds any additional information to self-rated health (SRH), two hypotheses were tested: (1) GALI is primarily correlated with functional disability and secondarily with morbidity and (2) SRH is primarily correlated with morbidity and secondarily with functional disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data source used was a subsample of the 2006 Spanish National Health Survey comprising people aged more than 64 years (N = 7,835). Age, sex, social class, physical and mental morbidities, and functional disability were selected as predictors in multinomial logistic regression models, in which GALI and SRH were the outcome variables. Fractional polynomials were used to handle the continuous predictors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results supported, generally, both hypotheses: functional disability was the main correlate of GALI and physical morbidity, rather than mental morbidity, was the main correlate of SRH. Furthermore, mental morbidity was as strong a correlate of GALI as SRH, but physical morbidity was notably less strong a correlate for GALI than for SRH.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In older people, GALI mainly measured functional disability, whereas SRH mainly measured physical morbidity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Alicante, Ctra. San Vicente s/n., San Vicente del Raspeig, 03015 Alicante, Spain. Electronic address: julio.cabrero@ua.es.
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cabrero-García
authors.affiliation: Hospital Virgen de los Lirios, Pol. Caramanxel s/n, Alcoy, 03804 Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Rocío
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Juliá-Sanchis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Correlates; Functional disability; Global activity limitation index; Morbidity; Older people; Self-rated health